Hazy
by DaisyDay
Summary: Daniel knows there is a pattern to the killer's choices but finds it difficult to solve when he himself is in a most confused state.
1. Chapter 1

PERCEPTION

HAZY

Chapter 1

Something wasn't right.

It was still the predawn dark of the day and when Daniel opened his eyes. He had a nagging instinct that somehow the natural flow of life had been turned upside down.

It wasn't the first time he felt that way, but usually by the time he got up and heard the birds chirping outside and Lewicki fixing breakfast downstairs, the act of normalcy would kick in and he would feel better.

As Daniel peered into the darkness, he was no longer sleepy. Yet it was too early for the familiar noises to be heard outside or downstairs. So instead he strained to hear the strange sound that had earlier roused him.

But it was not a sound that had awakened him.

A dark sensation seemed to vibrate against the walls of his bedroom. He felt his heart pounding and the pulsating rush of blood pumping throughout his body. No, it wasn't a sound he heard.

It was the feeling of fear.

Fear that something bad was going to happen today. It was an awareness so visceral that it raised goose bumps on his flesh and left him trembling.

He needed to stop these thoughts. For once, he wished his hallucinations would kick in, but all he saw in front of him was a dark abyss.

Daniel closed his eyes and he tried to conjure up images of Kate. He wanted to imagine her smile, her loveliness and for a second, he was successful. But try as he might, he could not maintain the focus and instead the image was getting weak and fading.

_Kate, come back! he screamed in his head._

But she was gone, replaced by that ominous foreboding of hopeless dread again. Like a child, Daniel just wanted to bury his head in his blankets, and hide.

But it would be useless. There was no escaping what was haunting him. Daniel forced his eyes shut, willing himself to sleep, but merely ended up tossing and turning in his bed for two hours.

Morning had arrived by then and Daniel could already hear the routine of morning beginning. The first chirp was heard outside and Lewicki could be heard getting the pan out from the kitchen cabinet. Hearing the familiar sounds allowed Daniel to breathe a little more freely once again.

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With its quintessential charm, Chicago Lake Michigan University consisted of beautiful gray stone buildings settled among a lush campus steeped in tradition. Daniel had been strolling down one of the many pathways when he bumped into Dean Paul Haley on a beautiful fall day.

"Daniel! Good to see you!" greeted Paul, " I was just on my way home for lunch; come walk a ways to my car with me."

"Al-right," Daniel nodded as he joined Paul and they headed to the university parking lot structure.

The two colleagues walked in tandem on the steep incline leading to the next level of the parking garage.

"I've missed seeing you, Daniel," Paul began, "I think someone upstairs is making sure our working hours are not scheduled at the same time."

"Spoken like someone in charge of scheduling," Daniel remarked, half-jesting.

Paul raised his hands, begging off, "Hey! Don't look at me!"

Daniel half-smiled, glad he to be getting a breather from the oppressive feelings, if only for a short time. Paul looked directly at Daniel.

"I would ask you how you've been," began Paul, "but if you don't mind me saying, Daniel, you look exhausted."

"Thank you," Daniel stated sardonically, although he couldn't deny it, "I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Oh?" Paul asked, his voice dripping with concern, "Is it anything you care to discuss with me?"

"No," Daniel responded, not wanting to go through the long explanation, "I've just been busy...with other projects."

At that remark, Paul let out a frustrated sigh, "You don't have to tell me. Lewicki has mentioned your preoccupation with...a special project of yours. I could only conclude that you're working on a case instead of academic work, which as you know, I've always felt was not advantageous to the university."

Here we go again, Daniel thought.

"Paul, don't worry...I'm getting my academic duties accomplished, aren't I?" Daniel asked, sounding slightly defensive.

"Yes, that's true," Paul admitted, "it's getting done. _but_...I expect more than bare minimum."

Daniel really was not in the mood to discuss this again.

"Paul, I don't know what to tell you, except I need to keep my mind active."

"Look, Daniel, I know how obsessive you get when you're working on a case for the FBI," Paul said, "so I already know it would be a waste of my time to ask you to tell Kate to find someone else to work on the case."

At the mention of Kate's name, Daniel stiffened as he again felt a sense of foreboding.

Why? Was Kate the one in danger?

He had not seen much of her lately for they had been working on separate cases. No, that's not right. He wasn't working on a case, he was working on a _hunch_.

"Actually, Paul," Daniel admitted, "I'm not working on an FBI case."

A darkness seemed to settle in his psyche, and this time he imagined the shadow of a killer lurking around in his mind.

And he could not shake the ominous feeling. In fact, it seemed to be closing around him.

Daniel and Paul had reached the covered parking area now. From the floor above they could hear the sound of a random car's engine coming down the ramp.. As they continued walking towards Paul's car, Daniel thought he caught its movement in his peripheral vision.

A Mustang coupe made its appearance from around the corner. And strangely, there seemed to be something deliberate and sinister about the way the vehicle rushed closer towards them. The driver was hidden behind tinted glass, which added to the overall menacing appearance of the vehicle.

The car was picking up speed and the driver seemed to be adjusting his steering while keeping Daniel in the center of his target. This was obviously not bad driving Daniel was witnessing.

Paul seemed oblivious to any impending danger, "So I told the board member that-"

Daniel consciously registered what he knew instinctively.

" Paul!" Daniel shouted his warning.

_Va-roooooom!_

Paul turned to Daniel in bafflement."W-wha-"

_Va-rooooooooooom!_

Daniel reacted. He physically pushed Paul as hard as he could, out of the path of the oncoming vehicle. He vaguely remembered Paul falling, but where, his mind didn't register.

Daniel then attempted to make a flying leap off to the side, but he had used up his precious milliseconds to save Paul and now it was too late for him; in a flash he knew he would not make it.

This was it. These would be the last seconds of his life.

_Bah-thud!_

There was impact of human body against steel car. Daniel was hit with the car, but not from the front. His body bounced hard and steadily across the side of the car which then twirled him about and knocked him off his feet.

The concrete seemed to come up and rush Daniel's face.

For an instant Daniel felt relieved that whatever happened would be quick; death would be instantaneous; he would not have to feel the excruciating pain of his physical body.

His body hit the ground hard.

Blackness now enveloped him.

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_Hello! I know I barely finished the other story, but I couldn't wait to post this! I've been re-watching some of the episodes and can't wait until the new season. Sigh._

_In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this! I really loved writing it!_

_Please review._


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline

Chapter 2

The minute Daniel was conscious he was aware of the pain. It grabbed him like an alligator grabs it prey, held firmly locked down and then rolled over and over in a death spin. The result would be disorientation and agony.

He wanted to shrink away from the pain but if he did, he would only fall back into a senseless depth of nothingness. Daniel had no choice but to get a grip of his consciousness by trying to recognize other sensations around him.

With his eyes still shut, he sensed the familiar scent of disinfectants, soap and rubbing alcohol; the smell of a hospital room. As the murk in his mind continued to clear, he heard the electronic hums, clicks and beeps of a machine whirring. His senses became stronger and he became aware of other irritants present such as the IV in his left arm, a catheter, the electrodes on his chest, and the oxygen cannula in his nostrils.

He gradually opened his eyes and it didn't take long for him to recognize the ICU of a hospital.

Looking about, he saw the fuzzy images of a few 'get well' bouquet of flowers and two boxes of chocolates, one of them with the lid off and freely sampled, as if someone got bored sitting and just delved into the box of chocolates. That image made him secretly smile to himself.

_Because Kate loves chocolate._

A blurry form appeared seemingly out of nowhere and was quietly dabbing a wet towel on his forehead. She worked with quiet efficiency. Daniel's eyes were still working to focus but she was too close to him. All he knew was that by the soft touch she was female .

Kate?

Daniel blinked hard, trying to sharpen the image, while at the same time the female straightened up at last, furthering the distance between them.

"Daniel, welcome back."

The voice was familiar, yet his heart sank when he realized it wasn't Kate's. When Daniel's vision had finally focused at last, he was staring directly into the face of Natalie Vincent.

_Or was that person Caroline Newsome?_

Daniel wasn't sure if he was operating on the level of a hallucination or reality. Of the two choices, he wanted it to be Caroline Newsome, if only for the fact that it would mean he was in the realm of reality and that he was physically alive.

But she was not wearing her hospital white coat, indicating that this was probably Natalie. Still, he closed his eyes for just a second and wished for this to be reality and Caroline. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His throat felt raw and dry.

He tried again.

"C-Carol-ine?" his second attempt was successful, but his voice sounded raspy and his throat was sore.

The telltale smile from her told Daniel he had guessed right, and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was not the person he had hoped, it was a comfort to know that there was someone he recognized when he woke up.

She continued dabbing his forehead gently. Daniel watched her as a child watches his mother. To Daniel, there was always something so elegant about Caroline's demeanor and mannerisms, which was the reason he had crushed on Natalie Vincent in his college years.

"I'm glad you recognize me," she looked pleased as she finished and withdrew the towel. Then her expression darkened when he made an effort to sit up, "don't try to move too much Daniel; I was told you had suffered a concussion."

"I'm fine...and a concussion is not as bad as it sounds," Daniel insisted as he attempted to push his body further up.

He didn't get very far, however, before dizziness and nauseousness overwhelmed him and he fell back into the bed, exhausted.

"Of course a concussion is bad," Caroline corrected him, "it is considered a serious head injury."

"Not necessarily serious," Daniel explained, "It's just a catchall phrase for a blow to the head."

..."that causes a brain malfunction, " Caroline reminded him.

He made another attempt to get up.

"Stay down, _please _Daniel," Caroline stated firmly, "or else I'll have to call for the doctor."

This time Daniel had the good sense to listen as he laid back down. It was easy since his head was pounding, "How long have I been here? Judging from the flowers and chocolates, I gather it's been days."

When Caroline could see that Daniel would not attempt to get up again, her expression relaxed.

"You've been here three days," Caroline stated. She then paused as if she was debating whether or not to mention it, "...that's three days that I have missed you."

Then before Daniel could recover from the stunning declaration, she did something even _more_ unexpected.

Leaning down, she kissed him gently on his lips, lingering for a moment to look into his surprised eyes.

"W-wha...why..." Daniel was confused.

"Ssssshhh!" Caroline lightly placed her two fingers on his lips to silence him, "You need your rest. I have to leave soon to run some errands, but I'll come back as soon as I can_."_

The kiss had unnerved Daniel and he suddenly became agitated.

_"_Where's Lewicki? Where's Paul? Where's _Kate?_ " Daniel shot off a barrage of questions to help ease his awkwardness as to what had just occurred. He was immediately sorry for his bluntness when he saw the hurt expression across Caroline's face.

"Oh..." was all she managed to say.

"Caroline, I didn't mean...to snap at you like that..." he said evenly.

His words seemed to help ease the hurt as she gave a half-smile, reassuring him that everything was fine.

"I understand," Caroline said gently, "you've been through a lot, what with the accident and all."

"...I should be grateful that you're here..." added Daniel, " since we barely know each other."

Caroline cocked her head, a puzzled look on her face, "Daniel, what is the last thing you remembered before now?"

"The car, a red Mustang, coming towards me...why?" Daniel asked, grateful that the pounding in his head had subsided slightly.

"And before that?" Caroline asked, "When was the last time you saw me?"

"...on the bench near my classroom," Daniel was relieved his mind was still sharp, "You were helping me with my crossword puzzle, until I made it clear I didn't need help..."

The color seemed to drain from Caroline's face.

"Daniel, perhaps I should go get the doctor..." Caroline had a worried scowl on her face as she turned away to leave.

"Caroline, wait! Don't go!" It was the first time there was some power behind his voice, making Caroline turn around and face him again. Her strange behavior was causing Daniel to panic. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" Daniel's insistent tone willed her to explain.

Caroline watched him, debating if she should tell him.

Oh, damn, _I'm dying_, Daniel thought to himself. What he wouldn't give to have this person be Natalie by his side, or even better yet, Kate here to cushion the news. He watched as Caroline took a deep breath and he braced himself.

"Daniel, I don't know how to tell you this..." she began slowly.

"Just tell me directly," he encouraged her.

"It's just..that time... when I sat under the tree on the bench with you..." she stumbled out the words.

_Why is she talking about that time?_

An ominous feeling began to envelop Daniel once again.

She looked directly in his eyes, "Daniel, that little incident occurred_ almost a year ago._.."

_What?_ Dizziness swarmed in his head again.

_"A year ago?_ " Daniel stared into nothingness, unable to absorb the words. He blinked hard and tried to breathe normally but the calmness would not come. By the seriousness of Caroline's face, he knew he had not heard wrong. There really was something worse than being told you're dying.

Daniel closed his eyes for a second at his own self-diagnosis, "Retrograde amnesia."

Caroline nodded, seemingly grateful that his intellectual mind seemed intact.

"That's one explanation," Caroline agree, "that type of amnesia could wipe away anything for days, years or even a lifetime of memories. I'm not saying you're correct in your diagnosis, but if you are, eventually your memory may come back to you."

"You forgot to add that even if it does come back," Daniel said, not feeling optimistic, "it'll come back in maddeningly incomplete bits and pieces."

"Perhaps, but let's not think like that now," Caroline tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"...and sometimes it doesn't come back at all," Daniel finished the thought.

"Daniel, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you that piece of news," Caroline said as she touched his arm. He looked down. His hallucination had never felt this real.

This was not a hallucination.

_One year_, Daniel mused, _he was missing one year out of his life._ That was a lot of time to make up. How much had changed in his life?

He clenched and unclenched his fists and moved his toes and felt relieved. At least he was not paralyzed from the accident.

And Daniel was glad he also hadn't lost his academic capabilities. Maybe he could try and recapture some of those memories by reading newspapers, magazines and psychology journals to educate himself on what he missed.

_But one year._

"This is a lot of news to take in," Daniel announced, "I hope I didn't miss too much in a year's time ."

He watched as that scowl of hers reappeared again.

_Now_ what did he say wrong?

"You don't know who I am, do you, Daniel?" Caroline's tone was purposely compassionate.

Daniel did not understand what she could be getting at.

"You're Dr. Caroline Newsome." he said slowly.

"Yes, I am" she acknowledged, "And?"

Daniel blinked quickly with a confused look, "And...what?"

Caroline took in a deep breath. From where she stood, she reached over and took his hand in hers. Daniel looked in stunned silence at their grasped hands . He then directed his focus to her eyes. which was now filled with a layer of sadness.

"Daniel," she gave his hand a gentle squeeze, "I'm your wife."

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_Thank you for the great response for chapter 1, especially all the reviews, favorites and alerts! I truly, truly appreciate it! *Does Happy-dance*_

_Please review_


	3. Chapter 3

Max Lewicki

Chapter 3

_Daniel, I'm your wife._

Whether this was real or not, Daniel felt he just wanted time alone. Caroline seemed genuinely hurt when Daniel dismissively sent her away. He gave her the excuse that he needed some rest, and if she walked away sad, he couldn't help how she felt. It sounded so self centered, but right now, he couldn't seem to get his bearings.

Perhaps he was having another psychotic break, but he immediately discarded that theory He had recently experienced one and usually a break would open the way for a more emotionally grounded sense of personality, so it wouldn't make sense to have another one so soon after the other one.

So what is happening to him?

Daniel needed to look at this from a different perspective, and it would start with him sitting up in his hospital bed. Reaching for the bed remote, he planned to elevate his upper body to a partial sitting angle. After pushing the button until he was at a 45 degree angle, his eyes became distracted by the hand that had held the remote. And he found he was having a hard time breathing at the latest revelation.

On his left ring finger laid a gold wedding band.

Staring intently at it, he used his right hand and wriggled the ring around. It felt solid and heavy. He then pushed it up towards his knuckle. Sure enough, there was a pale band of skin where the ring had been.

As if the ring had been on his finger for a while.

If this was a con, the tan line was a nice touch.

He took the ring off and set it on his bedside table. This might not be a hallucination, but maybe everything here was fake, a facade. Like a Hollywood set. Looking at his IV pouch, he wondered if it was just filled with water, that it was being used as another prop. Perhaps even the flowers and candy were simply clever devices to fool him, like his wedding ring.

Daniel was just about to pull out his IV tubes to test its usefulness when the door opened and Max Lewicki walked in. His happy expression immediately disappeared, however, when he saw what Daniel was intending to do and rushed quickly over to his bedside.

"Hey Doc! Tell me you weren't in the process of pulling out your IV!" he scolded Daniel, stopping any further damage.

"Okay...I wasn't about to pull out my IV," Daniel repeated.

Still, Daniel felt a sense of relief in seeing Max.

For him, Max always represented the familiar, the real world. Daniel watched as Max concernedly checked all the instruments to make sure nothing had been pulled out by mistake. Daniel knew he was lucky to have such a reliable, caring assistant. When Lewicki was satisfied that everything was how it should be, he chided Daniel.

"So it's not only at the house that you can be difficult," Lewicki claimed.

Daniel's face was expressionless, but internally he again thought how much he missed Max.

"If I'm being difficult here, you should feel right at home then," Daniel rebounded as Lewicki grinned.

"Good to see you up and around, Doc."

Daniel took a deep cleansing breath. Everything seemed back to normal.

"I'm glad you're here, Max," admitted Daniel, "because when I woke up, I found things not as they should be."

"Which is understandable, Doc," reassured Max, "after all, you've been out of it for a time."

So there it was; Daniel's opening to find the truth.

He watched Lewicki reaction carefully, "I was told I lost a year of my life."

"Did Caroline tell you that?" Max asked, " She passed me in the hallway after she visited you. You were pretty hard on her. "

So Caroline being here wasn't a hallucination, yet why was Max being so casual about everything? Daniel was confused. Perhaps it was Caroline who suffered the concussion. Or something worse.

"So you spoke to Caroline..._my wife_, right?" Daniel tested him, waiting for a shocked look from Max.

Max gave Daniel a questioning look, "Doc, what are you talking about? "

A-ha! Daniel seemed relieved and had not realized he had been holding his breath.

"Good, " Daniel exhaled, " Just as I expected."

Of course Caroline is your wife, Doc," Lewicki assured him, " don't you remember that I went to your wedding eight months ago? Surely you're not going to tell me you've forgotten the happiest day of your life?"

Daniel's world had spun out of its axis.

"W-wedding..." Daniel murmured as stared at Lewicki. Maybe this wasn't Max, either, he surmised.

Narrowing his eyes , Daniel peered at the edge of Max's face to see if he could see where the mask ended, as if this person would any second now peel off a mask to reveal a different person, just like in the Mission Impossible series. Daniel was unable to detect the seams of the mask.

"What are you staring at?" Max asked as his hand flew up to the side of his face, "I didn't get a zit, did I?"

"No!" Daniel seemed agitated, "I-I seem to have forgotten some important facts in my life."

"So it's true then," Max evenly said, "you have regrettable amnesia."

"That's _retrograde_ amnesia," corrected Daniel, "and I don't believe that's what I have."

Max tilted his head, "What do you have then, Doc?"

"_I don't know_...what I _do_ know is that I did _not_ marry Caroline! I _wouldn't _have married her,_ I do not know her! You know that too, Max!"_

Daniel was working himself into a frenzy as he continued shaking his head back and forth.

Max grasped Daniel's shoulders, "Calm down, Doc.."

"No, I won't calm down!" Daniel ranted, "Caroline Newsome is NOT my wife, Max! If I were ever to ask someone to marry me, it would have been.." Daniel sucked in some air as he realized what he was just about to admit, "I actually don't know who!...I meant to say...I'm not ready to be married, and besides, I'd _know_ _in my heart_ if I _was_ married!"

"Okay, I get it...So, Doc, " Lewicki eyed Daniel cautiously, "...if you say you _weren't_ married, then how do you explain _me_ attending your wedding? Did I just hallucinate it? Or, am I a hallucination, too?"

"I've had paranoid delusions before," Daniel claimed, as he stubbornly folded his arms, "so maybe it's contagious and you've caught the delusional bug."

Lewicki hmphed.

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" he asked.

Daniel chose to ignore that question, "Either that, or this is the greatest con of all time and any second now, I expect you to rip off that mask you have on."

Lewicki had a look of total disbelief.

"Let me get this straight," Lewicki said, "So your analysis of why you are confused is...someone has mounted a con of such massive proportions that he has created lifelike masks and given the people in your life entire scripts to memorize so that we can con you in your hospital bed..._or..._ could the logical conclusion be that you are suffering a concussion and have lost a year of your life?"

Daniel folded his arms stubbornly, "It seems to be a toss up..."

Lewicki was glad to see bits of the old sardonic Daniel back. He figured he might as well stay a while now. After looking behind him, Max reached down and took up the box of half eaten chocolates from the visitor's chair so he could be seated.

"I think it's good that you stay here at the hospital and rest a few days, Doc," Lewicki said a bit more gently now. He then proceeded to take one of the chocolates and casually popped it into his mouth.

Daniel stared blankly at Lewicki and then at the opened chocolate box Lewicki had in his hand, "I suppose I shouldn't have been so harsh with Caroline," a collected Daniel stated, "I can see by the picked over chocolates that she's been vigilantly by my bedside."

Lewicki stopped mid-chew. The stillness of the room filled Daniel with uncertainty. Daniel watched as Lewicki then gave a quick glance at the wedding ring on the nightstand before looking nervously back at Daniel.

"Lewicki?" Daniel questioned.

Max couldn't look at Daniel directly as he cleared his throat, "Uh, about the chocolates...actually, Doc...they're Kate's..." his voice trailed off, for Lewicki didn't know how to proceed.

Any residual feelings of dizziness or nauseousness Daniel felt had dissipated, "_Kate_ was here? When? How long?"

"Doc..." Max looked around the room obviously feeling uncomfortable over Daniel's enthusiasm, "it's just...you're married and all..."

"Lewicki..." Daniel encouraged, "_tell me about Kate being here...I want to know..._."

"Yeah, Kate," Lewicki cleared his throat unnecessarily, "She's been here...frequently..."

"Frequently? What do you mean by _frequently_?" Daniel leaned so far forward, he almost fell on his face. He had to know.

Lewicki sighed.

"Let's just say when she's not working on a case or sleeping, she's _here_," Lewicki said before adding, "You gave her quite a scare, Doc."

_She cares_. Daniel briefly closed his eyes for a second in grateful blissfulness before looking back at Lewicki.

"Doc," Lewicki reminded him, "You're married..._happily_ married, in fact..."

"Max," Daniel rarely called Lewicki by his first name, "The thing is, when I search inside of myself to try and find some feeling for Caroline, I feel there's nothing there. There's just an empty shell. It's like Caroline is a complete stranger to me. Why is that?"

"Hey, you're the doc, Doc," Lewicki said, "How am I suppose to know? But I'm I guessing your feelings for your wife will come back eventually.. Just...just spend more time with Caroline, Doc. Give her a chance."

So according to Lewicki, he had been happy...with _Caroline?_

"I don't know..." Daniel answered honestly, "earlier today when she was here... the whole time she had been visiting me, all I could feel was...anxiety. What kind of trauma would cause me to feel that way if she were my _wife?_"

"I have no answer for that, I'm only a professor's assistant," said Lewicki, "all I can tell you is that you have been in a terrible accident and your brain is still a little scrambled. It'll straighten out sooner or later and then you'll remember how important Caroline is in your life."

Daniel felt confused, frustrated. Maybe it was best he change the subject.

"Did they ever catch the person who tried to run me over?" Daniel asked.

"No," Lewicki shook his head, "but we know, judging from the skid marks, the car was definitely out to get you. We have it on security camera video, too. Kate has a few leads she's working on."

Kate was on the case. Daniel felt relieved; she didn't hand it off to just anyone.

"But, Max" puzzled Daniel, "why would someone want to kill me? Was it the case I was investigating?"

Lewicki once more looked uncomfortable. He tried to cover it up by patting Daniel on the arm as he stood up, "We can talk about it tomorrow. Right now, you need to rest."

"No, tell me! I've already been resting for three days!" Daniel was sounding like a petulant child.

But Lewicki was already standing.

"Actually I best be going, Doc," Lewicki explained, "But I'll catch up with you later. Right now you need to concentrate on getting back to normal."

"Which really isn't normal, at all," Daniel insisted, as Lewicki started heading for the door.

Daniel was about to plead with Lewicki to stay, but he changed his mind when the hospital door swung open.

And in walked Kate Moretti.

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_Please review_


	4. Chapter 4

Kate

Chapter 4

Daniel wasn't even aware that Lewicki had left, because all he could focus on was that Kate was here.

A heavy sweet ache formed inside of Daniel the minute he set eyes on Kate.

She was dressed all in black; black leather jacket, black top and skirt and black tights and boots. A quick thought flashed through Daniel's mind that she was either on her way to a funeral or she planned to help Neo fight the sentient machines for control of the Matrix . An irrepressible smile formed on his lips at that image.

"Daniel," her eyes lit up, though her lips trembled, "It's good to see you awake at last!"

Kate was so relieved to see Daniel up and about. She had waited worriedly by his bedside day and night. The only time she had left was when Caroline had arrived or duty had called. Kate was exhausted from running back and forth between the hospital, FBI headquarters and home. The sleepless nights were catching up with her. Her eyes were swollen and she ached with weariness.

Not that Daniel even took notice.

"Kate, you're here." he was never so happy to see someone in his life.

She watched him with a concerned look on her face, "Are you feeling alright?"

Just three days ago she had felt his vitality draining from him and she was terrified to leave his side. Like a devoted caretaker, she rested her hand on his chest to check his breathing. His breath was still only a weak stirring beneath his ribs. A little thinner, but he seemed energized and alert.

And he was alive.

Daniel was taken aback at the physical contact from her, yet he welcomed it.

"I'm fine, Kate," Daniel assured her. Then to diffuse the situation, he pointed to her black-infused outfit, "But what's with the dark clothes? Were you expecting to see me in a casket?"

She knew it was his morbid way of joking, "Actually I _had _attended a funeral this morning, but then I rushed over here."

"I see," Daniel wasn't sure if she was jesting, "but just to warn you...no one likes when an FBI agent who shows up at his door dressed like an undertaker."

Kate lifted an eyebrow, "No one likes when an FBI agent shows up _period._"

Daniel smiled. Talking with Kate always felt so natural.

"You didn't say how you were feeling, Daniel," Kate inquired.

"I feel as though there's a gigantic hole in my head," Daniel remarked, "and also, I seem to be hazy on certain things."

Kate looked questionably at him, "Like what?"

"Like the last year of my life, but then, you probably know that already."

Kate removed her hand and Daniel regretfully felt the warmth leave his upper body as well. However, he was pleased that unlike Caroline and Lewicki, Kate then elected to sit right at the edge of the bed. The personal gesture seemed so intimate to him and it was the first time he was glad to be in a hospital bed.

She had an ambivalent expression when she turned to face him.

"Caroline is pretty upset with your memory lost, Daniel," she stated.

Hearing Kate mentioning Caroline's concern of him took a little wind out of Daniel.

"It's pretty upsetting to me too," he commented.

" So you don't remember being... married... to her _at all?"_

There was a hitch in her voice at the awkwardness of the word "married".

Daniel didn't know what to expect, but when she, too, verified that he had been married to Caroline, he felt as if he had been punched in the gut. The ease they felt around one another earlier had dissipated as Daniel shook his head.

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Daniel looked embarrassed, "It was such a shock for me, I guess."

"The shock of being in the accident or the shock of being married?" Kate inquired.

"The latter," Daniel responded, "I've already come to terms with the former..."

"Oh," was all Kate said.

"Regarding my marriage," Daniel tried to gauge Kate's reaction, "did I like it..being married?"

Kate could not look at him directly and her words lacked conviction, "Well, it appeared... as if marriage suited you."

_Not if I am married to Caroline_, Daniel thought, but he didn't say outloud.

"If you must know," Daniel admitted, "I had convinced myself that this was all a big con game. In fact, there's a part of me that still thinks that way."

Kate now gazed directly at him, "So you think Lewicki and me are part of a _con_?"

He didn't skip a beat, "All I know is that things do not seem back to normal. You're standing there in front of me telling me something that is not registering in my psyche, and I just keep thinking, 'You're not Kate; you're someone else who is wearing a Kate mask.'"

Kate stared at him. Then she leaned in slightly.

"Do you want to feel my face?" she asked seemingly out of the blue.

His eyes became large, "_What_?"

She leaned in more, until it seemed as if her face was only inches from him.

"Feel my face, Daniel.." she dared him, "let's settle this once and for all. I'll prove to you I'm real."

" Oh, um..." He tentatively reached out, intending to pull at her skin and feel around the hairline.

Daniel's hand began to travel the entire length of her hairline but then, it suddenly veered on its own accord and he found his hand lovingly caressing her cheek, leaving a trail of heat everywhere he touched. He thought he heard a soft gasp from Kate.

And Kate's body gave a responsive tremor as he continued to touch her.

She had not expected herself to elicit such a strong response to Daniel's scrutiny of her face. Kate's entire body tightened with longing and she became absurdly aware of her own breathing as the air became charged with tension.

Both looked surprised at their reactions.

"I..." Daniel took a deep swallow, "I, uh...can feel this is skin, not a mask..."

"Yes, Daniel, " she almost whispered it, "I'm very real."

Slowly and reluctantly he dropped his hand as she tried to cool the flush of her cheeks.

"I feel so foolish," he said to her sheepishly, although what he was really feel was numbness, confusion and desire.

Kate took a deep breath to calm herself, "Well, you've had a lot of information to process this morning. It could overwhelm anyone. "

"Everything always overwhelms me," Daniel half mumbled.

Kate looked at him with a hint of a smile.

"Daniel," she assured him "I don't blame you for being skeptical about what had happened to you. If you weren't, I'd think something was _really_ wrong with you. To me, this is proof that you are well on the way back to normalcy."

Daniel smiled. Only Kate could make him smile at a time of stress.

"Thanks, " he said.

For a second he hesitated, but then decided to go ahead and ask her, "This past year...you said marriage suited me...was I actually... _happy_?"

Kate bit her bottom lip and for a second, Daniel could have swore he saw a look of distress in her eyes.

"You...seemed better," Kate did not sound convincing and when she realized that, she added, "Caroline has been good for you, Daniel. She really is an amazing woman. You're very lucky."

_And so is she_, Kate secretly thought to herself.

"What about you?" Daniel asked softly, "In this year's time, Kate, had you found someone too?"

Her wry smile didn't reach her eyes, "I know you haven't looked out the window yet, Daniel, but if you had, you would have seen that pigs still do not fly."

"I would hate to see pigs in the air," he responded quietly.

Daniel knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

They both had little awareness of time as they gazed at one another, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Don't worry, Daniel, " Kate assured him, "With Caroline's help, your memory will come back to you."

"In the meantime, could you help me?" Daniel's eyes were pleading as Kate worked on keeping a placid reaction.

"What do you mean?" Kate asked.

"Help me get my memory back, "Daniel said, _although not the part about being married to Caroline,_ "Let's start with three days ago. I remember a car coming towards me in the parking garage and then nothing. Have you got any leads?"

Kate shrugged, relieved to be on safe ground again, "There was a video camera in the parking structure. So we got the license plate number but the car was reported stolen a few days ago and I found it abandoned last night outside of Chicago. Nothing conclusive, although there was blood on the grill. But I am still working the case, inbetween the other case, of course."

"We were on a case together?" Daniel looked hopeful.

She frowned, "No, I'm sorry Daniel, we weren't. I'm working a separate case for the FBI, alone."

Daniel had furrowed his brow, trying to recall something.

" Kate," Daniel was now getting slightly agitated, "I seem to have a vague memory of...of talking to you about a case..."

She looked as though she was debating if she should respond.

"You're right," Kate finally agreed, trying to be as gentle as possible. "You thought you were on to something, but no one else thought it was anything. "

"What about you? " Daniel asked, "Did you think I had a good reason to think I had a real case?"

Kate looked directly in Daniel's eyes, "I have always believe in you; you know that, Daniel."

That meant all the world to him, "And what did I say to you about it?"

Kate thought a second before answering, "I think your theory had to do with a patient who had stayed at Rexford Hospital at the same time as you...a Gregory Nettles?"

_Ah yes_, another piece of memory came back to Daniel. Gregory Nettles had been a patient at the same psychiatric ward Daniel had been admitted to. He was an older gentleman, a retiree, who had stayed for only a short time before checking himself out, just like Daniel.

"Yes, yes..." Daniel was agitated again, but this time in a good way as he looked up to Kate, "I know him! What happened to him?"

"He had died of an accidental drug interaction a month ago."

Daniel looked shocked, "What drugs?"

"The way I understood it, " Kate said, "Nettles took too many of his heart meds and in combination with a heavy dosage of aspirin. The two combined to open his blood vessels and caused a drop in blood pressure. That sent his blood pressure crashing to a lethal level. The coroner ruled it an accident."

"And you also agreed it was an accident?"

"You had asked me to look into it, " Kate explained, "but according to people I spoke with, Nettles was an old man; he was in the twilight of his years. He didn't have an enemy in the world and what little money he had, he willed it to his church."

"Something doesn't feel right..." Daniel furrowed his forehead as he shook his head back and forth. Kate now regretted that she had mentioned Gregory Nettles.

"I think I've upset you," she looked concernedly at him, "Perhaps I should leave, to let you rest," Kate volunteered.

It was taking every inch of strength for her to leave him. She began subconsciously straightening his bedsheets after she stood. Daniel watched how she smoothed out the sheets with loving care.

"Wait, Kate..." when Daniel looked at hers, he seemed excited, "...you said there was blood on the grill of that Mustang that tried to run me over?"

"Yes," Kate said, looking askance at him, "why?"

"I remembered something..." Daniel said slowly, "I was hit on the _side_ of the car, so there could not have been my blood on the grill..."

Daniel's chest tightened with fear and anxiety as he recalled the last few seconds before he blacked out. How he had shoved Paul Haley out of the way of the oncoming vehicle.

The pounding in his head increased once more. The ominous feeling returned as a dreaded realization entered his mind.

_Not only is Kate wearing black, Lewicki had been wearing black as well._

He turned slowly towards Kate, hoping against hope that he was wrong.

"_Paul,_" Daniel emphasized the name before he focused on Kate, "Is Paul alright?"

Sadness etched Kate's face as she reached out and touched Daniel's chest once more, "Daniel, his funeral was this morning."

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.

_(There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, so things will brighten up, I promise!)_

_And no, it's not a dream or a hallucination!_

_Please review_


	5. Chapter 5

Moving On

Chapter 5

The news of Paul Haley's death was almost too painful to bear. It was as if Daniel had lost a brother. The fact that he may have pushed Paul into the path of the murderous vehicle that tragic day in the parking structure made it even more horrible.

Had he done that? Pushed Paul to his demise?

Kate seemed to sense how distraught he was, "It was an accident, Daniel. A terrible, horrific tragedy. We know you tried to save him."

Daniel turned away from her. There was nothing more to say to Kate. He didn't even know when she had left. Now alone, he was so overwhelmed by grief that even tears would not come.

Fatigue soon washed over him and he embraced it, falling into a troublesome sleep. Yet, there was no real escape from the pain. His dreams were of Paul, of his time with him, their experiences together over the years.

When Daniel woke up sometime in the middle of the night, there were tears in his eyes at last. At first, he thought it was all a horrendous nightmare, that when he woke up he would need to get ready to go to work at the university.

A faint light could be felt near him and when he turned a little left he saw Caroline in the visitor's chair, reading a paperback book and he knew instantly that the nightmare was real.

No, he would not be getting up to go to work. He was still in the hospital.

Caroline sensed Daniel stirring and leaned forward to turn on the bedside light. He looked into her concerned face, which was still half in shadow, due to the lateness of the hour.

"Daniel, are you alright?" she asked.

Daniel closed his eyes for a second as the last of the tears fell.

He looked her way and swallowed hard, "Paul," his tone was filled with anguish.

She nodded knowingly, "I'm so sorry, Daniel. I know how close you two were."

"I feel...numb..." Daniel's voice sounded so different.

"Daniel-" Caroline looked worriedly at him, "please. you shouldn't go through this alone. Let me help you through this."

Nothing would help him ease the pain. But when he looked at Caroline's face, he knew she was hurting too, although for a different reason. He wasn't being fair to her. If he couldn't work through his pain, perhaps he could help ease hers. Sometimes he needed to put other people's feelings before his.

He gestured to the box of chocolates.

"...I might feel better if I had a little chocolate..." he suggested.

Caroline's face relaxed slightly as she reached down for the box and offered it to him, "Most of the caramels are gone, which is actually a good thing. You've always favored the dark chocolate ones, anyways."

So she knew which chocolates he preferred.

Of course she would, Daniel reminded himself, she was his wife.

Looking at the assortment, he partook of one.

"That's because the dark ones contain more of the cacao beans and less fat," Daniel explained.

"Just admit that you like the taste better, Daniel," she said.

"Only a wife would know that of me," Daniel concurred as he popped the chocolate in his mouth.

She seemed to brighten a little at his casual acknowledgement of their relationship. Of course, Daniel had done it intentionally as a peace offering. And now, after seeing her reaction, he was glad he did.

The chocolate flavor burst in his mouth. It was nice to know that some things never changed. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed the taste of chocolate. The familiarity of its texture and taste made him feel better.

"Could I have another one?" he asked.

She lifted a brow, "You think that would be a good idea, Daniel, to over-indulge?"

Daniel was slightly disappointed as he feigned a sigh, "I suppose wives are good at saying no, too."

She didn't smile.

"It's for you own good, Daniel."

It was obvious she did not get his sarcasm. Perhaps bantering was something they did not do often as husband and wife.

_Husband and wife._

_Why can't he remember?_

"Did I ever eat chocolates when we were um, together?" Daniel asked, hoping if she told him a story, it would spark a memory in him, some connection.

"Twice," she smiled.

She started relating the two instances, but he only half listened. All he felt was grief for Paul. Caroline was now telling him the time that Paul had offered him some chocolates in his office and how Daniel claimed it was all a government conspiracy.

_Paul._

"So Paul's reaction when you took his favorite chocolate piece was to..." Caroline was saying.

"...did I tell you anything about the case I was investigating when Paul had been killed?" Daniel interrupted.

Caroline stopped in the middle of her storytelling, not letting any feelings show through that he had disrupted her story, "Well, actually, Daniel when we got married,, we had decided that that I would not be involved in your investigations. So in answer to your question, no."

Again Daniel felt disappointment.

_How could he share a life with someone that did not share his passion?_

"And yet knowing how obsess I could be, you still married me?" Daniel wondered what she would have ever seen in him, "especially with all my...problems?"

"Being a doctor in a psyche ward made me understand you better," Caroline explained, "Your condition is pretty mild in comparison to others I have seen at the hospital. At least it's controllable...and in answer to your other question as to you wanting to help with FBI cases without me...I just figured there are trade-offs in every relationship."

Daniel didn't know how to react. If Caroline could be described in one word, it would have to be understanding, he surmised. But why would anyone be this wonderful with him?

"...And what did I have to offer _you_ then, in exchange?" Daniel questioned.

She did not hesitate with her answer, "A way out of loneliness."

As Caroline looked about the room, her eyes rested on the wedding ring he had taken off. She reached over and lifted the ring from the nightstand.

"You better put this back on," she advised as she stood and held out the ring to him, "otherwise you''ll lose it."

Daniel stared at it before awkwardly taking it. As he slipped it back on his finger, all he could think about was that it felt so cold the entire way down his finger. She then placed her hand on top of his ring hand. He felt nothing with her touch.

"I better let you get some rest," she smiled down at him. He was almost relieved that she was leaving.

"Okay, thanks," he said, hearing the detachment in his voice. Somehow, he couldn't seem to warm up to her.

She hesitated slightly and then added, "I know everything is strange now, but you fell in love with me once and you will again."

"Sure," he said, uncertain how he should answer, how he should be feeling.

Brushing his hair off his forehead, Caroline then leaned down and kissed him there before turning to leave.

He watched her as she left, wondering if he had ever felt anything for her. He had some lost memories of his feelings for Natalie Vincent, but they had dissolved when Natalie had manifested herself in the form of Caroline Newsome.

The last thing he remembered about Caroline was sitting under a tree and working on a puzzle with her. And that they had discuss something about possibly becoming friends.

But falling in love? He wasn't in love with Caroline, he was...

...no, _no_...instead of thinking of the impossible, Daniel thought he would start by reclaiming last week, retracing his steps from the moment he learned about Gregory Nettles death right up until he was rammed by a car in the university parking structure.

And along with that, he would find Paul's killer. He somehow felt they were connected.

Those thoughts made him feel better. It gave him something to look forward to. Instead of wandering aimlessly in the vast arena of his lost memories hoping to find a familiar landmark, he now had a sense of reaching a goal.

And with new determination, Daniel was able to get a good night's sleep.

.

.

It was early morning when Kate slowly opened the door to Daniel's hospital room, carrying a familiar looking legal pad.

Lewicki had let her know that Daniel had been scribbling furiously in it previously before the accident, but neither Max nor Kate could make out all the gibberish he had written. Therefore she figured Daniel would want to peruse through these notes to help keep his mind active during his waking hours.

She had not seen Caroline's car in the hospital parking lot, so she assumed Daniel would be alone in the room. That was indeed the case, but when she came in, he was soundly asleep.

Quietly placing the legal pad down, she observed him in deep slumber. The sight of an non-active Daniel sleeping was mesmerizing. Her gaze moved along the outline of his body, now snugly swaddled in the hospital sheets. She couldn't help herself as she lightly she ran her fingers along the contours of his sleeping body, feeling the hardness and strength of it.

Daniel stirred and resettled his face against the pillow, his breathing resuming its deep rhythm. He really did look so innocent and sweet, she smiled, thinking how she had missed him these past few days. She then berated herself for having such thoughts about a married man.

As he slept, she noted his expression had changed. A faraway smile had appeared on his lips. Whatever images were in his mind made him very happy:

_Daniel and Kate were enjoying an intimate moment in bed. Facing one another Daniel reached out and touched a lock of Kate's luscious , long hair that had streamed across the pillow. There was an intensity in his eyes as he lifted himself on one elbow._

_A myriad of emotions passed between them as Kate felt the heat of his hand caressing her cheek._

_"Kate," he observed, "You are lovely."_

_Kate smiled, her eyes shimmering, "I love you, Daniel."_

_No other words were needed as he reached over and cupped her head adoringly in his hand. They stared at each other in stirring passion and Daniel knew he was going to kiss her._

_"I have to go, Daniel," her tone had saddened, as regret filled her shining eyes._

_No! Daniel immediately sat up to make his point, _"Please, Kate, stay with me!  
_  
_

.

He heard himself yelling the last part outloud.

And he was already sitting up when he had opened his eyes.

The morning light was just filtering in the hospital room. Strange, but Daniel felt Kate's presence. Yet when he looked around the tiny place, it was obvious he was alone in the hospital room. At last his eyes settled on the visitor's chair. The half eaten box of chocolates was now gone, but in its place was his yellow legal pad.

He _knew_ it, he had felt it with every fiber of his being.

Kate _had_ been here.

And with that thought, Daniel was filled with a renewed sense of comfort.

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_Please review._


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel's 'to do' list

Chapter 6

Now alone in the hospital room, Daniel felt too keyed up and anxious to lie in bed for another minute. By now the IV and catheter had been removed and he could move freely in his room. He felt a little dizzy and his head throbbed, but he had things he needed to get done.

Looking around the room, he noted two things he had not observed before.

One was a wedding photo that Caroline obviously must have placed on his hospital nightstand the last time she was here. He picked it up. It was of him and Caroline standing side by side next to Niagara Falls. He had to admit, she looked lovely in a short casual top and shorts. He then studied himself in the photo, wearing a tee shirt and khaki shorts. There was a smile on his face, and it looked very natural.

He had no memories of this photo. A part of him still believed this was a convincing forgery, that someone had photoshopped them and pretended they were on their Honeymoon.

_There he goes again with his conspiracy theory. He had to stop._

After all, it wasn't the photo that had been altered, it was him.

He would never see Paul again. Paul's dead and it's because of him. He needed to find the killer. He set the photo back on the nightstand, this time, facedown.

The other thing that was new in the room was the legal pad that had been left on the chair. The pad contained random scribbles-names, phone numbers, doodles, lunch orders and scattered reminders in no particular order

The thing that caught his eye was a list written in his own writing:

_Black rimmed glasses?_

_Pearl bracelet?_

_Glass squirrel?_

_Wedding ring?_

And he had also boxed and doodled around this next list, which suggested he had given these a lot of thought:

_Psychiatric/hospital records_

_Two H, Two M?_

_Kate_

Kate's name had been boxed over again and again.

He didn't have any doubt that these were notes regarding his acquaintance at the psychiatric ward, Gregory Nettles. But how? There was only one way to find out. He would go see Kate.

He was glad he was no longer connected to any type of machine. It was easy enough for him to pull back his sheets, although he struggled to get out of bed. Daniel walked across the small room, pulling every drawer opened until he found his street clothes.

"Hey Doc!"

The hospital door swung opened and Max Lewicki simultaneously walked in with a big smile plastered on his face.

It just as quickly disappeared when he noted a very agitated Daniel out of bed, "...uh, what the hell is going on here?" Lewicki wanted to know.

"...You're just in time," Daniel said, as he changed into his street pants, "I need you to take me somewhere."

Max did not look happy, "Under whose authority? You really think you're ready to leave the hospital, Doc?"

"This isn't a prison, Max, I can come and go as I please," Daniel reasoned.

"I think I better get the doctor," Lewicki said as he half turned.

"No need, Max, I'm a doctor too, remember? And I am telling you, I am ready to leave!" Daniel insisted as he pulled his shirt on, "Nothing you can say or do will convince me otherwise. So let's go...you can just drop me off, and then go on your way."

Lewicki sighed knowing when Daniel had his mind set on something, there was no turning back, "Where is it you plan to go, Doc?"

"FBI headquarters." Daniel confidently stated, a determined look on his face.

.

.

As Kate Moretti sat at her desk, she viewed all the piles of folders stacking up. She'll never get rid of these, she thought; all this paperwork will still be here 30 years from now. She often wondered why she couldn't get a case, solve it, and then move on. But no, every little detail had to be accounted for, and it had to be recorded on paper.

However, instead of trying to whittle down her case load, Kate reached for the folder she had created regarding Gregory Nettles, the elderly psychiatric patient that had died of an accidental self-overdose, but that Daniel had questioned.

She then opened her drawer and took a Tupperware container of freshly washed strawberries. Pulling the lid up, she reached in a popped one in her mouth, enjoying the sweet flavor of the fruit as it burst in her mouth.

"Eating on the job again, I see."

So involved was Kate in re-reading the notes on the case that she hadn't heard Daniel walk up to her desk until he was standing right in front of her. At the sound of his voice, her heart skipped a beat and she had to work to recover.

When she looked up, her breath caught at the sudden appearance. As usual, he looked handsomely disheveled, wearing casual clothes underneath a woolen scarf, his hair boyishly tousled.

Kate smiled, "At least it's something healthy and not my usual cinnamon roll."

"That's because you probably ate _that_ sugary poison earlier in the morning when I wasn't here, " Daniel said lightly.

"Okay, so what's your point?" Kate grinned, not denying it at all.

As Daniel sat across from her, he pointed to the file she held in her hand, "Is that the Nettles file?" he asked.

She acknowledged with a nod.

"I wanted to see if I missed any detail, but since you're here, maybe you'd like to take a look at it," she said as she handed him the file.

"Uh, uh, " he shook his head as he refused the file. Instead, he pointed to the strawberries, "Don't you remember? Before we even begin on a case, the number one rule is that we must share any snacks laid out in front of us first."

Kate smiled as she slid the container of fruit his way. Daniel reached over and tossed one in his mouth. As he chewed, he had a strange expression on his face as his mind reawakened another memory.

"I seem to recall this exact scene a while back," he claimed, "you were reading a file and there was a container of strawberries between us."

Kate seemed pleased that he remembered something that had happened between them.

"That's because it _did_ happen that way and with the same Gregory Nettles file," she stated.

"That explains why this folder is sticky," Daniel stated as he cautiously tapped on it and then rubbed two of his fingers together, " And this isn't the first time I caught you eating a snack and reading a file, you know."

"Okay, you've got me," Kate lifted her hand solemnly in surrender, "I'm busted."

Daniel grinned, "So what did I have to say about the Nettles file a few days ago?"

They were back to talking about the case. It was like having the old Daniel back.

"You were convinced his death was accidental but had no proof, " Kate reached over and grabbed one of the strawberries. This particular strawberry was so huge that Kate had to take a bite out of it.

"Oooo!" she was thrown a bit from the lusciousness of the fruit. The juice from the strawberry had unexpectedly squirted out and ran down her chin. Kate made a quick grab for a napkin to wipe the juice from her chin.

"I'm such a slob!" she laughed almost to herself.

But she stopped when she saw Daniel's reaction. He had been staring at her the whole time, taking into account every movement she made, watching the succulent fruit as it slowly dripped down from her mouth to her chin, and the aftereffect of her having to lick her lips.

The action had caused Daniel's pulse to quicken as heat rose to his face at the sight of her tongue.

_But I'm a married man._ Daniel forced himself to look down and awkwardly he fingered his wedding ring. Why did he keep having these yearning thoughts of Kate when he was a married man?

Maybe it was because he always felt that way about her.

A stiff silence descended upon them as Daniel looked up again and his gaze flickered over hers. This caused prickles of heat and cold to chase over every inch of Kate's skin, and she could only gaze back at him.

"Daniel," her voice sounded strange as she worked to recover.

Daniel could feel his own heart pounding.

"Uh, you were telling me about the Nettles case?" he tried to focus.

Kate felt she could not breath freely, Daniel had made his choice. She had to turn away as she spoke, "Perhaps you should be at home with Caroline, trying to put your life back together."

It was like a cold bucket of water had been thrown on Daniel.

"I can't be with her yet, Kate" Daniel admitted, then realizing what it implied, he added, "That is, not until I find the person who was driving that car."

"I'm working on that," Kate assured him "just let me do my job."

Daniel took a deep breath, "Paul wasn't killed when _you _pushed him into the car," he claimed, "He got killed because _I_ pushed him into the car. _I_ need to do this."

"Daniel..."

"No, Kate, let me do this," stated a determined Daniel, " If not for me, then for Paul. Please, update me on the case."

Kate sighed, "I don't know if I should be telling you this..but... maybe I can help refresh your memory if I start at the beginning of the Gregory Nettles situation."

Daniel leaned forward, "Go on."

"You had come to my office a few days ago and I had mentioned that news story about a couple of psychiatric patients who were discharged from different institutions, only to die soon after."

"This included Gregory Nettles?"

Kate looked evenly at Daniel, "No, that one hadn't been reported yet. One of the ones reported was where a young woman in her 20's was taking a bath and her hair dryer accidentally fell into the tub and zap, she got electrocuted and drowned. The other one occurred almost a week later when a middle age man died from a common cold. Had taken too many decongestants and the amphetamines in the medicine caused a fatal change in his cardiac rhythm. There were other strange deaths besides these that had been ruled accidental."

"So then I told you about how Gregory Nettles had also died after being released from Rexford?" Daniel asked.

Kate nodded.

"Pretty coincidental, wouldn't you say?" Daniel asked.

"Not really,_ " _Kate countered," one died of overdose, one of electrocution and one of a cold."

"That's not the coincidence...it's that they had been recently discharged from a mental institution," Daniel said.

Kate sighed, "Daniel, that's exactly what you said five days ago."

"At least I'm consistent," Daniel declared.

Kate looked ruefully at him, "Then I'll tell you again what I told you then. People get discharged from psychiatric wards everyday." She gave him a look of concern, "and by the way, Daniel...are you even well enough to get discharged from the hospital?"

"Why do people keep asking me that?" Daniel's mood had changed to one of impatience, "I walked in here of my own accord, didn't I?"

"Yes," agreed Kate, "but that doesn't mean-"

Their conversation was interrupted when Agent Probert came up to them.

"Pardon the intrusion," he said, although he did not look apologetic at all, "but Pierce, there's a Caroline Newsome waiting downstairs in the lobby for you."

Daniel didn't know why, but he felt irritated at the news that Caroline was downstairs. He didn't know if it was because he had been interrupted from the case or because he had to leave Kate. Probably a little bit of both. Maybe more with the latter.

Kate took in a deep breath.

"You better go, Daniel," Kate advised, " you don't want to keep your wife waiting."

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_Please review._


	7. Chapter 7

Getting Settled

Chapter 7

Agent Probert had informed Daniel that Caroline was waiting for him downstairs in the lobby of the FBI building.

Kate watched him, trying not to reveal her true feelings, "You should go," she told him after Probert had left, "You don't want to forget about Caroline."

"That's the problem," Daniel said, "I already have."

"Daniel, don't be like that," advised Kate, "Don't use working on a case and Paul's death as an excuse to avoid dealing with Caroline."

"I'm not," Daniel said, but he didn't sound convincing.

"If you can't get back your memories with Caroline, make new ones with her," Kate forced a smile, "because she's the best thing that's happened to you in a long time."

Daniel doubted that, "So I've been told."

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.

Although he hated elevators, he used one to go down to the level ground of the lobby. He figured he might as well face all his fears at once. Caroline was waiting for him when the elevator doors opened, looking slightly perturbed.

"When I went to the hospital and found out you had discharged yourself, I figured I'd find you here," she simply stated.

"I have a case to solve...two in fact," Daniel responded.

"Daniel, solving a case should not be your first priority, " Caroline reprimanded, "You should have never left the hospital. Right now you have a body that needs healing, and I am going to make sure you get that rest!"

Daniel was surprised at her insistent tone, but in a way, she was right. When he was on a case, other things did tend to fall by the wayside, including his health.

"I'm fine, Caroline, I just need to-"

"No, I don't want to hear it, Daniel," Caroline determined, as she impatiently put her hands on her waist, "I didn't want to have to say this, but you leave me no choice. I have durable power of attorney and I can have you committed, if I have to."

There was no sense arguing. Caroline had the upper hand.

It was like a real marriage, after all.

.

.

With Caroline behind the wheel of the car, the university house that Daniel and Lewicki had lived was just around the corner. On the way back from FBI headquarters, Caroline had explained that Daniel was on a two year sabbatical from the university.

She then added that when they had married, Lewicki had gone and rented an apartment across the street from the university. Daniel had been relieved to hear that Max visited him quite often, and hoped Lewicki would come over again soon.

"Glad to see the house hasn't changed much since we...married," Daniel stated as she drove up to the driveway and he saw the first view of his home.

"Not outwardly," Caroline warned, "but the inside will be different."

Daniel looked sullen as he held the folder closer to his body, as if it was almost used at a protection, "I don't adapt to change very well."

Caroline gave him a self assured smile, "I remembered you had _liked_ all the changes I've made in your house, Daniel."

Daniel scowled. That didn't sound like him _at all._

The minute he entered the house and stepped into the foyer, Daniel felt disoriented, and it wasn't from the concussion.

Everything about the house had changed. While the place was still recognizable as his residence, all the furnishings had changed. It was brighter, more colorful with a feminine touch to it. Caroline went over to open the curtains, where there used to be blinds.

She stood and observed Daniel looking all around.

"Well," she said, forcing a cheery tone, "I hope you appreciate the changes I've made."

"They're...different,"

"Okay, well, then..." Caroline shrugged, "perhaps I should be getting dinner ready. While I do that, if you want, Daniel, you can peruse through your case files, and later, we can discuss your findings after dinner."

Daniel tilted his head, "I thought you weren't part of my crime solving life."

"I am now," she stated, "If that is the only way I can keep my eye on you."

"...because of my concussion..." Daniel said.

For the first time since the hospital visit, she smiled, "No, because I like watching you."

It wasn't often that someone flirted with him, and what made it really unusual was when it was his wife doing it. But he had to admit, he liked it.

He was distracted once again when he noted, off in the near distance, a wall lined with an enormous dry-erase board, covered with lists of names, clues, accidents and post-its stuck all over the place. Walking closer, Daniel concluded that he had evidently designated this investigation control center.

Looking at all the scattered papers and scribblings on the wall, he knew the chaotic mess was actually an organizational system that only he understood-but not any longer. That knowledge was lost along with the last year of his life.

What he needed to do was use these notes towards solving Paul's murder. Once he knew that, he would be able to solve the mystery of the coincidental deaths...and also the mystery of who wanted him dead.

As he studied the board, he could hear Kate making noise in the other room.

No, not Kate... _Caroline _was in the kitchen, he sadly corrected himself.

.

.

After dinner, Daniel went back to his investigation board. There were the list of seven names, including his acquaintance from the psychiatric ward, Gregory Nettles. Four of the names, according to the list, were patients of Hazelton while the other three were from his mental place, Rexford. The fact that these names were residents of two psychiatric hospitals seemed to be the only thing connected them.

That, and that all the outpatients were now dead.

From behind him, he heard Caroline's voice, "Hey, remember me?"

When Daniel turned around, for a split second, he thought it was Natalie at the doorway. But then he remembered he wasn't married to Natalie.

"Is that a trick question?" he asked.

She casually leaned against the doorway and folded her arms, "I thought we might talk, but it's getting very late," she noted.

Daniel looked at the clock on the wall. It was midnight. Where had the time gone? He gave a glance back at the investigation board. There was nothing more he could do tonight. He was exhausted and needed to go to bed. _To bed with Caroline._ At that thought, he looked back at her.

It seemed as if Caroline was thinking the same thing, for her cheeks were rosier than usual.

Intellectually, Daniel knew Caroline was his wife. But emotionally, she meant nothing to him and the thought of sharing a bed with a stranger was not at all comforting. Yet, she had been so understanding thus far that the idea of telling her that he'd sleep on the sofa seemed cruel.

Wordlessly, Daniel put down the pencil he held in his hand, and followed Caroline upstairs.

While Caroline was in the bathroom, Daniel took out his t-shirt and pj bottoms. He stood at the foot of the unfamiliar bed, uncertain where he was supposed to sleep. Was it the left side or the right side?

He looked to see what items were on each nightstand. There was some skin cream in a pump bottle on the left nightstand.

Caroline slept on the left side.

After getting dressed, Daniel slipped into bed on the right side and stared at the ceiling, wondering if he should feign sleeping when she got out. He was not accustomed to change, and this was drastic, earth-shattering change.

From behind the bathroom door, Daniel could hear the sound of water running. He determined he would be awake when she came back into the bedroom. The water stopped and the door opened.

She came out, dressed in a thin nightgown. It was conservative, but with the lamplight focused on her, Daniel could make out her form. And he concluded that she indeed was a beautiful woman.

"Daniel, you look like you've been thrown into a den of wolves," she said, as she watched his expression, "don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"I think I've done enough of that already to you," Daniel admitted.

She flicked off the lights and got into bed. Purposely she turned on her side to face him. He had never experienced the sensation of sleeping next to someone-although he had imagined it. He could feel the heat radiating from her body.

"I know this must seem strange to you," Caroline commented in the darkened room.

"It's like...the world's changed but I haven't," confessed Daniel.

Caroline smiled into the darkness, "It's the other way around, Daniel."

"The funny thing is I don't _feel _a gap in my memory," Daniel admitted, " When I reach back, everything is there. That is not the diagnosis for retrograde amnesia. There _has_ to be something else going on."

Caroline had no answer for that.

"Tomorrow will be a better day, Daniel, and you will be one day closer to remembering me, I'm sure of it," Caroline stated.

He heard her yawn. She then reached her hand in the darkness and touched Daniel's arm while he worked at not being rude by drawing away from her.

"Good night, Daniel..." she stated, "try not to think about the investigation too much...and just remember that I'll always be here for you... "

Daniel shifted and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Soon he heard Caroline's slowed breathing, signaling she had fallen asleep. Meanwhile his mind seemed cluttered with all kinds of thoughts and he feared he would never sleep again. However, fatigue finally caught up with him and it didn't take long for him to also drop off to sleep.

But it must have been a light sleep. He woke up sometime in the middle of the night and when he had, he could feel a strange sensation towards the center of the bed. He turned his head and his eyes worked to focus through the darkness. It didn't take long for him to make out Kate's petite form laying on the bed facing him. He knew it was a hallucination, but he didn't care.

All he could feel was a sense of quiet joy.

_His internal mind had kicked in and he whispered softly, "Kate..."_

_Her face was so close to him and her eyes were shimmering. A yearning pang went through his chest at the knowledge that she was a breath away. He could swear he could hear the pounding of her heart. Or was that his?_

_"I'm glad you're here, " Daniel kept his voice low._

_"Daniel, " Kate's tone was gentle but sad, " you have to let me go."_

_Daniel's stomach roiled unpleasantly at her words. He knew what she meant but he did not want to accept it. She seemed more real to him in this hallucination than the reality that had been thrust unwillingly upon him._

_"I'm not ready to" he whispered into the darkness. Already he could feel a dull ache in his heart and though it was dark, he could hear a sad sigh coming from Kate._

_"You're married...things are different between us..." she brought her hand up and lightly caressed his cheek , "Life will move forward...but in separate ways for us..."_

_"No," Daniel was not ready to accept the inevitable._

_With all the craziness going on in his life, Daniel knew one thing. He could not let go of Kate. She had been launched into his life and somehow wedged herself into a very private corner of his heart. She was smart, vibrant, beautiful, fearless and she possessed a resilient optimism he had come to admire._

_He knew having these feelings for her was wrong, yet why did it feel so right in his heart?_

_He reached out and moved his hand over the outline of her body. He expected it to quell the heartbreak inside of him, but instead...it felt different._

He heard a moan and he realized with a start that it was Caroline's form he was running his fingers along. He immediately withdrew his hand as Caroline moved slightly, murmured something in her sleep and in no time he once again heard her soft, slowed breathing.

And Kate was lost somewhere in the darkness of the night.

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.

_More about the case next chapter!_

_Please review_


	8. Chapter 8

Making a connection

Chapter 8

Although he had slept late, Daniel couldn't wait to wake up early and attack the investigation board again.

In no time he was downstairs in front of the white board, studying the eight names. There were lines and post-it notes all around the names. He again looked at the four names that came out of Rexford and the four names out of Hazelton mental hospital.

There was something important about the names, but as of now, Daniel could not figure it out. He only knew that all the names had two things in common; one was that they all came out of two psychiatric hospitals.

And the second was they were now all dead.

None of the former hospital patients died the same way: one died from a hair dryer in the bathtub, another an overdose of too many decongestants, one hit his her head on the fireplace mantle, then there was the one that died from a heart attack, another of respiratory failure, and one of collapse lung alongside heart failure, another one died of a hit and run and then his own patient Gregory Nettles, was dead from a wronged drug interaction. No autopsies had been done and all their deaths were certified by different family physicians.

He thought again about the two different hospitals. Then he looked at what he had previously written on the board again.

_2 H/2 M?_

Daniel pondered as to why he had written those words...two houses? two helpers?

No, no, neither sounded right. Daniel rubbed his temples. He was getting a headache; perhaps he _had_ left the hospital too early.

_Hosptial?_

Daniel head shot up and he looked again at the board...2 H...-could that be in reference to the two different hospitals, Rexford and Hazelton? Possibly. His heart began beating faster with excitement as the possibility became a realization.

One mystery down. He looked at the board again.

What could the two _M's_ refer to, then?

Nothing came to mind. The exuberance he felt earlier had faded as other memories entered his mind. Most of them were of Paul. Daniel tried not to relive the moment when he had pushed Paul out of the way, the last seconds of Paul's life. Had he, instead pushed Paul into the oncoming vehicle?

Had he killed Paul. No, he tried to convince himself, the killer did that. Wait. Something was tugging at the back of his mind at the idea of the word _killer_. Could the M's have to do with the a killer? Maybe the '2' meant _two_ killers? No, he would have written "K" and he could see he had written _2 M's, _followed by a question mark.

He stared at the board again. Of course! Not two _K's_, but two_ M's_, as in_ murderers._

Two hospitals/two _murderers?_

_Was that it?_

Reaching back deep in his mind, he felt as though some little locked door of memory had suddenly burst opened; that he had guessed right.

Progress at last! Daniel eyes scanned the board quickly. It traveled down and halted at the post-it with Kate's name. He had boxed around her name several times. A feeling of loneliness flooded his heart as he reached out and touched her name, as if that would bring her closer to him.

"Any breakthroughs yet?"

Caroline's voice startled him and he blushed with guilt while his hand quickly dropped to his side.

Daniel turned towards the sound of the voice to see Caroline leaning against the doorway, wearing a bathrobe, her hair slightly mussed. As much as Daniel tried to ignore it, Caroline looked prettiest at the start of the day.

He turned to look back at the board, working to keep his voice steady, "I think so. It's just that I feel as though I've studied everything about this case before, but yet, it's like I'm looking at them for the first time."

From behind, he could hear Caroline give a loud sigh, "I see you won't rest until you find some answers, so as soon as we dress and eat breakfast, let's say I drive you wherever you want to go to further your case along, Daniel."

He turned around again, a grateful look on his face, "You would do that for me, Caroline?"

"Don't you get it, Daniel?" she asked, "We're _married_. I want to help you solve this case and then recover your memory so we can once again continue our lives together. We are a team."

Daniel had to admit once again that Caroline was beyond understanding. Yet, as he viewed the board once again, his eyes wandered back to the lone post-it which simply read, "Kate". If Caroline wasn't there, he would have drawn another box around her name.

.

.

Caroline drove, huge eyeglasses shading her expression. Beforehand, she had typed in the address Daniel had given her in the GPS system which now displayed on the dashboard.

"Where are we headed?" she asked, as she made a right hand turn.

"Gregory Nettles ' place," Daniel said, "So far I've been working this case from the present and going backwards. Maybe I got the order wrong. Maybe I should be starting from the past and moving forward."

"Makes sense," she said, as she was now stopped at a light. But it was obvious from her tone that she did not understand at all.

Daniel was faced forward, viewing the traffic. Up to this point, all he had been thinking about was himself and his case, never giving a second thought to what Caroline must be going through.

"I'm sorry."

The light turned green and Caroline proceeded.

"Why did you say that, Daniel?" she asked.

"Because I just realized that of everyone surrounding me, it is _you_ who is suffering the most regarding my condition," Daniel reasoned, "It's you with all the memories, and here I sit, treating you like a stranger. My condition is a lot harder on you than it is on me."

Caroline shrugged, "I'm just trying to be there for you, Daniel. I want you to know that I am all the woman you will ever need in your life."

Daniel turned to face her, not sure if she was implying anything, but he could not read her expression, being that her sunglasses was blocking off most of her face. And he was glad for that; he wasn't sure if he could face the truth.

.

.

Gregory Nettles' apartment was just a few blocks away from the university. The building was essentially a plain stucco box, bland on all four sides with little greenery. When they walked up, a "for rent" sign was taped to the window of Nettle's apartment window.

A young man answered the door and from behind him, Daniel made out many packed boxes.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Pierce," Daniel introduced, "And this is my wife, Caroline... Pierce." It felt strange for him to say that.

"I know, we met at my uncle's funeral," he said, looking at Daniel quizzically, "I'm Thomas Nettles. I didn't expect to ever see you again."

Thomas Nettles opened the door wider to let the two in. They stood in the middle of the unfurnished room, amid all the stacked cardboard boxes.

"How are you holding up, Thomas?" Caroline asked the young man, with a look of concern.

He shrugged, "It's pretty hectic for me," he said, "I've been going back and forth between here and Ohio where I go to the university. I'm trying to sort out all of Uncle's stuff and get this place cleaned up so I don't get stuck with next month's rent."

"So you're not keeping anything for yourself?" Daniel asked.

He shook his head, "Most of the stuff will be donated to the church. I'm just keeping the photo albums...although I'd still like to have his black rimmed glasses...that was always his signature piece and I'd like it for my mom, Gregory's sister," he then turned to Daniel, "Dr. Pierce, I had asked you if the medical examiner could have misplaced those glasses and you said you would look into it."

"Yes, I remembered," Daniel lied.

"So did you ever find them?" Thomas inquired.

"I'm afraid not."

"That is so strange because he never had them off his face," Thomas half said to himself.

.

.

Back at the house, Caroline had fixed egg salad sandwiches and watermelon while Daniel was studying the board once more.

He felt Caroline's presence in the room and had to force himself to look away. He could see she was holding some type of album book in her hands.

"Yes?" Daniel asked.

"I thought you might want to look at some pictures of our honeymoon," she said, wistfully, "that maybe looking at it might bring back some memories for us."

"Now?" Daniel asked and instantly regretted it when he saw Caroline's pursed lips. He knew she was hurt and he was being unfair. He forced himself away from the board.

"Let's take a look," he said, although his thoughts were still on the whiteboard.

He quickly glanced at some of the pictures. He saw some pictures of them in front of Niagara Falls and also some in front of The Tower Hotel, the same hotel he stayed with his parents when he was young. He looked so happy in the pictures, standing there, his arm casually around Caroline's waist. And somehow that bothered him the longer he viewed the pictures.

He shut the album and handed it back to Caroline, "Thank you, it was nice looking at these pictures of us," he hadn't meant to sound so wooden.

"So nothing clicked for you after seeing them?" she inquired.

"Nothing for now, although I can see that we were happy there and you were quite photogenic," Daniel forced a pleasant smile on his face.

She seemed appeased and with album in hand, she disappeared into another area of the house.

Daniel's smile disappeared the minute he looked back on the board, his concentration once more on the case. He recalled everything that was said during the visit to Gregory Nettle's apartment. Nettles' nephew had mentioned some black rimmed glasses, and strangely, a pair of black rimmed glasses was listed on the board here, also. Why? Why would they be listed here? What is the significance?

As he pondered these things, he heard the phone ringing in the background. Caroline's voice could be heard talking to the caller, but Daniel's mind was too immersed on his whiteboard list to pay any attention to what was said.

The list of items Daniel had written...wait...if the black glasses belonged to Gregory Nettles, could the other things possibly be items that had belonged to _other_ deceased patients?

Daniel's eyes read through the list again... could each of these other items also been previously reported missing by loved ones?

A tremor traveled up Daniel's spine as he came to a slow realization. He now had a theory as to why he had written _black rimmed glasses, pearl bracelet, glass squirrel_ and _wedding ring_ on the board.

_They were trophies for the killer._

So he was right... all of these were not accidental deaths...they were murders.

"Daniel!"

Caroline's tone indicated that she had called his name more than once. She was once more standing at the doorway, an unreadable expression on her face.

"That was Kate on the phone."

"Did you say _Kate?_" Daniel shouted back, trying not to emphasize her name, trying not to sound excited.

"Yes," Caroline let out a sigh as she uncomfortably shifted, "and she said she's on her way here _now._"

.

.

_Chapter nine will be the pivotal chapter! Please don't miss it! :D_

_Please review_


	9. Chapter 9

Reality

Chapter 9

Kate was on her way _here_.

The anticipation made Daniel excited. He started rushing around the room, trying to organize his papers and files.

Caroline put her hands on her hips as she watched him, "Daniel, what are you doing?"

"The living room's a mess, don't you think?" he rushed back and forth, not wanting Kate to see how chaotic and disorganized his life was.

On the coffee table, there was the crossword puzzle that he recognized. He recalled he had been working on this very same puzzle under the university tree when Caroline had come upon him, almost one year ago to this day.

At the thought of Caroline, he looked up and once again saw her pursing her lips. He figured right that it was due to the fact that he was making a big deal about Kate coming over.

Why couldn't he do anything right with Caroline? he wondered.

He picked up the puzzle, intent on putting it among the stack of other papers he needed to organize, when he suddenly did a double take and took a second look at it. Something strange about the way he had filled out the crossword caught his attention and left him with a confused expression on his face.

The puzzle was three-fourths of the way completed. But that wasn't the confusing part. What had him baffled was that it was filled the _exact_ same way, with the same answers that he had written in on that day he had been with Caroline. He had not added a single word since that day.

_Why had he not worked on this since that day under the tree?_

It was so unlike him to not finish a puzzle, to toss it aside for that length of time. His throat felt dry and his heart began to race at that knowledge.

"Daniel?"

Caroline was inexplicitly by his side, confusing Daniel further. She had come upon him so quickly, without making a sound. How was it that he had not heard her coming towards him?

"Daniel, is something wrong?" she was watching his face very carefully.

Daniel showed her the unfinished crossword puzzle, "This crossword puzzle here? That's exactly where I left off with it a year ago; I hadn't added another letter or word since I saw you that day under the tree."

She took a quick glance at it, "Okay, I see that...so?"

She almost sounded annoyed.

He then noticed the photo album on the coffee table and another tangent idea suddenly popped into his head.

"...A-and the photo album..." Daniel stated, pointing accusingly at it, "all the photos I saw..." he rubbed his head, trying to straighten out his thoughts. Something about the Honeymoon pictures he had seen didn't sit right with him, either.

Caroline casually looked in the direction of the photo album and then back at him.

"What of it?" she asked, with a defensive tone.

She was sounding and acting so strangely; so unlike how she had been previously. But then, he really didn't know her, did he? He glanced back at the photo album. He recognized those photos, but it was in a different context..._where had he seen those photos before?_ It wasn't here at the house.

The pictures looked familiar and yet they weren't.

And then it hit him.

He quickly went over and grabbed the photo album. Flipping through the pages, he found the picture he was looking for. He returned to Caroline, pointing to the specific picture.

"There! Look at this!" his voice almost sounded accusing, "That picture of us in front of Niagara Falls, you know, the one on our honeymoon..."

Caroline took a cursory glance "What of it?" she asked coolly.

"I was in that exact same spot when my dad took a picture of me as a kid, " Daniel held the photo album at an angle so Caroline could have a better view of it, "and the place that we stayed at? The Tower Hotel? That was where I had stayed with my family as a child..."

"That's quite a coincidence," she evenly commented, her expression never changing.

"The point is, Caroline, " Daniel tried to keep his voice calm and steady, as he slammed the book shut, "why aren't there any pictures of our Honeymoon taken in locations that I _haven't_ been to before?"

Caroline folded her arms, "I don't know, Daniel. Why don't _you_ tell me?"

Daniel shook his head, as if willing for himself to remember, "...the reason why there aren't any other pictures is due to the fact that I don't know any other parts of Niagara Falls since those pictures show only the locales I remembered as a boy. I am only looking at what my memory remembers."

"At only what your memory remembers?" Caroline's voice was forcibly calm, "Daniel, you're not making any sense."

Daniel looked around the room and what he suspected was true after all. This wasn't real; this wasn't his reality.

And he needed to get out of this.

"Actually," Daniel stated as he now looked at her with certainty, "This is the FIRST time I am making sense in _days!_"

With determination, Daniel headed for the front door.

"Daniel!"

Caroline's voice sounded stressed as she followed after him, " What is wrong? W-where are you going?"

Daniel turned to her and gave her a relieved smile, "I've just come to the realization that none of this is real!"

By now he had reached the front door, his hand on the doorknob.

"Daniel! Stop! Don't go!" Caroline's tone was desperate, "You've had a terrible head injury. It's worse than we originally thought...you need help!"

"Yes, I do need help," Daniel agreed, "and I am not going to get it if I remain here a second longer!"

He then faced the front door and flung it wide open. Rushing outside, he walked past the familiar front lawn. He could hear Caroline's running footsteps behind him. At last she caught up with him.

She grabbed on to his arm, "Where are you going, Daniel?" she asked frantically. Her breathing came in spurts from trying to keep up with him, "Don't leave me!"

Daniel yanked free of Caroline's hold on him. He needed to get away from her; he needed to be free.

"You're not real, Caroline so I'm going home..." he stated assuredly before adding, "...to my _real_ life..."

He moved forward and walked through the sidewalk, through the small patch of extra lawn and stood on the curb's edge.

"Daniel!" Caroline yelled, desperation heard in every syllable, "Let's talk about this back at the house! You're acting crazy! "

Meanwhile down the street, a bus had turned the corner and came speeding by the street. The driver was obviously running late. With Daniel just inches from the street, he looked over his shoulder to give Caroline one last look.

"Thank you, Caroline, " he stated, "for helping me see what I need."

He then faced forward and causally stepped off the curb, right onto the path of the oncoming bus.

"Noooo!" Caroline screamed.

The bus made a screeching sound as it tried to skid to a halt, but it was too late.

The next sound Daniel heard was his own scream.

.

.

Daniel opened his eyes with a start.

He blinked hard and tried to speak, but again, his throat felt so dry. Looking around the hospital room, he saw the same equipment he'd seen before and felt a sense of deja vu.

His eyes stopped at the chair to see if there were chocolates there. He was relieved to see the half eaten box.

He reached up and felt the bandage on his head and the rubber tube that ran up to his IV. He moved his limbs and was glad to see he had no paralyzing injuries.

Again, everything was so familiar yet so strange.

Glancing down at his finger, he saw, to his relief, that it was bare of a wedding ring. He turned his head towards the nightstand and was glad there was no wedding picture displayed there, too.

Someone was in the room.

"You're awake at last, Daniel!" Dean Paul Haley greeted him.

Now stepping in Daniel's line of vision, Paul had a broad smile spread on his face.

Daniel was never so happy to see someone in his life, "Paul!..._you're alive!_"

Paul furrowed his brow.

"Isn't that what I should be saying to _you_?" he looked confused.

Daniel didn't care if he wasn't make any sense. _All he knew was that Paul was alive! _He quickly grabbed Paul arm and felt it; it was solid.

"It's really you!" Daniel sounded relieved while Paul continued with his look of bafflement.

"Uh, .." Paul looked uncertain, "do you know who you are and why you are here?"

Daniel took a deep breath.

"My name is Dr. Daniel Pierce and I am in a hospital because I had pushed you aside when a car had come barreling towards us."

Paul nodded enthusiastically, "Show off!" he teased. Then his expression turned solemn again, "Was that the last thing you remembered?"

Daniel wanted to say that the last thing he remembered was looking at his wife before stepping out front of a speeding bus, but it sounded so ridiculous, even to him.

"I'm not married, am I?" Daniel was afraid of the answer.

'Married?" Paul looked puzzled again when a familiar female voice suddenly spoke from behind him.

"Daniel?"

From his peripheral vision, Daniel saw Kate move into view and then she was by his side. She reached out and placed her hand over his. It felt warm and inviting and he looked tenderly into Kate's concerned face.

"You thought you were married?" she asked, with a tilt of her head" Why would you ever think that, Daniel?"

Daniel was not in the mood to explain all that. Right now all he could think about was that Paul was alive and Kate was here with him. He gave her a relieved smile, "Let's just say there's a story behind that comment."

Kate burst into a sweet smile, "I can't wait to hear your explanation. It sounds like a doozy!"

"The important thing is I am here," Daniel announced, "and I'm not brain damaged and I'm not hallucinating."

"Yes," agreed Paul, "and although your body has gone through some things,your mind is as sharp as ever!"

"So what exactly _did_ happen to me?" Daniel asked the two of them as he looked around, "How long have I been here?"

He watched as Kate gave Paul a questionable glance.

"You tell him," Paul's voice was low as he spoke to Kate, "He'll take it better coming from you."

_Now what did that mean?_ Daniel wondered.

"Tell me what?" Daniel demanded to know, "Kate, is it bad?"

Kate looked directly at Daniel, her eyes were soft, "No, Daniel, it's not bad...at least not any longer."

So it wasn't bad news. Still, Daniel prepared himself for what Kate might say, "Go on, I'm ready to hear it."

Kate took a deep breath in.

"Daniel, it's just that you've been here in the hospital three days," she said gently, "...and during that entire time, you've been in a coma."

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.

_Please review_


	10. Chapter 10

More clues revealed

Chapter 10

_He had been in a coma._

Coma was not a word anyone associated with happy thoughts, but for Daniel it was like he had hit the reality lottery.

But those feelings were short lived, for Kate was now telling him that she needed to leave.

"Daniel, I'm glad you're back with us," she was saying, "But I really need to get some stuff done back at the office..everything has really began piling up."

Little did he know that Kate was working on a hunch regarding Daniel's accident. She wasn't ready to mention anything to him about it just yet; no use getting his hopes up if it turned out to be nothing.

It seemed as if his expression darkened a bit, "Oh,...I understand..." his eyes now holding a tinge of sadness, as he looked downward at the hospital sheets.

Kate's heart crashed against her chest at his look of what he considered a desertion. If it were up to her, she would stay with him all day ...and all night, too. She wanted to say more, do more, but with Paul Haley present, she could only place a comforting hand on Daniel's arm. She saw his head turn to where she was touching him before he looked wistfully back at her.

For a space of a moment, they gaze into each other's eyes.

"I'll come back when I can," Kate said gently at last, her eyes were pleading for him to understand.

He had that lost look again and it took all her willpower not to reach out to stroke his cheek.

"Take care, Kate," his voice slightly shaky, "come see me soon."

Kate gave him a wobbly smile,"I promise, Daniel."

.

It was back to work; time to get down to business. Now back at her desk at FBI headquarters, Kate was busily typing when Agent Roger Probert approached her.

"So what are you working on?" he asked, trying to peer over at the computer screen.

Kate gestured to the empty seat next to her, "Have a seat and I'll show you."

Through her connections as an FBI agent, Kate was able to ascertain a DVD of the streets that intersected the university parking lot. The tape was still in the machine as Kate flipped the "on" switch. Keeping an eye on the time code, she skipped ahead to the approximate time that the red Mustang tried to hit Daniel.

With the remote, she slo-mo a few frames.

"What are we looking at?" Probert asked, looking at the screen which showed the outside of a parking garage.

"I've been trailing the red Mustang that had hit Daniel," she explained.

Probert snorted.

"Of course... why am I not surprised that Daniel's case takes precedence over everything else?"

Kate looked at her partner, "Try and be objective, Roger. Someone is trying to kill one of ours. We need to find the killer before he strikes again."

"He not one of 'ours' Kate, he's _yours._"

The double meaning was not lost on Kate and she hoped Probert did not see the blush rising to her cheeks. Meanwhile Probert noted on the screen that even when the Mustang hit the opened road, Kate continued to follow it on the screen.

"Kate," he inquired, "why are you watching the Mustang after it leaves the garage?"

"Just keep watching," she stated, her eyes never leaving the screen as Probert switched to watching Kate.

"I'm guessing you're not just following the Mustang," he declared, as he noted her eyes not tracking the red car.

"That right," Kate admitted, her eyes following the screen, "Can you see it?"

Probert narrowed his eyes, "See what?"

She pointed at a different car, "There! See that blue Toyota Camry?... It's always three cars behind the Mustang and it's been matching red Mustang's lane changes for the last three miles..."

The agent shrugged, not impressed "Cars tend to go the same way on a busy street."

"But every single turn?" questioned Kate, as she pushed a button and switched screens, "I had just finish running the plates and the results are right here."

A name and picture popped up. Dennis Houston. According to his records, Houston had no arrests, no outstanding warrants and his prints were not in the system. This meant nothing to Probert.

"So now you have a name...do you think this person is another killer who was following your alleged killer?" he asked, confused, "Maybe he'll kill your killer."

"Actually I think it's more like an _accomplice_ following the killer." Kate theorized.

"Maybe.." Probert sounded uncertain, "but two cars on the same highway is a pretty weak connection. There's definitely not enough here to even question Houston, much less arrest him, especially since there is no evidence of even a crime having been committed."

"True but it's only a matter of time," Kate said as she quickly scanned the rest of his file, including work history. Her eyes suddenly stopped, "Well, what do we have here?"

Probert focused on the screen, "What? What did you find?"

"According to the records on file here, Houston's latest place of employment is Peachtree Nursing Services," Kate announced, "which is a hiring agency that provides temporary nurses to hospitals and psychiatric facilities. This ties in perfectly to the cases regarding ex-psychiatric patients who were killed that no one wanted to investigate except Daniel."

Kate seemed pleased. Probert thought she was trying too hard.

"Not bad," Probert admitted, "But still, you just have a bunch of random facts with no connecting dots..so what is your next step?"

"You'll see," she stated and suddenly began furiously typing into her computer again.

Probert looked over at the screen again, "What are you doing now?"

"I'm typing into the database the list of all nurses, doctors, caretakers and Peachtree hires who could have come in contact with the three patients that died at Rexford," she said. Probert watched as she pushed a button and a list of 32 names appeared.

"That'll take a week for you to get through," Probert commented pessimistically.

"A week I don't have, " Kate said, who became typing more information, "...so therefore I'll do a quick narrowing down by cross-checking this with the names of any nurses or caregviers who have a history of car thefts, since that red Mustang had been stolen..."

She pushed a button and only one named appeared, Peter Grazin.

"Bingo and the lady has a winner!" she announced, with a satisfied expression on her face.

.

.

Upon further research, Kate discovered that Dennis Houston and Peter Grazin were actually stepbrothers. She almost flew to the hospital, so anxious was she to tell Daniel about the break in the case. When she entered his hospital room, Daniel was comfortably sitting up. His eyes immediately lit up at her appearance.

Kate was suddenly aware of a deep delight curling through her at seeing him looking so well. But unfortunately, he was not alone. Paul Haley and Max Lewicki were already there in the room. Everyone exchanged greetings and Daniel had just began telling them about his experiences the last three days.

"Is there really that much to say?" Paul questioned, "I just assumed being in a coma meant you were unconscious."

"You'd be surprised what happens to your mind when you are in a coma," Daniel explained, "It's not as though your brain stops working and suddenly you are thrust into darkness. It turns out that, instead, a coma suspends you in a dreamlike state."

"What had you been dreaming about?" Kate asked.

When Daniel turned to view her, he felt his heartbeat hurtled at reckless cadence at the way she was gazing at him.

"Doc?" Lewicki broke in.

"Oh, um..."Daniel looked at the two men, "I dreamt about how to prove whether or not patients from two institutions were systematically being murdered."

Lewicki smiled, "You mean, you can't even get a break when you're in a coma, Doc?"

Daniel turned to Lewicki, "It's not like I'm complaining...I think the experience helped me to organize my ideas regarding the case."

"Seemed like you had a lot of organizing to do," Paul mentioned, "What with snippets of the case...plus didn't you mention something about being _married_?"

Daniel was unable to look at Kate, yet wondering what she was thinking.

"Married? _YOU_?" Lewicki looked shocked.

"_What_, is that so shocking?" Daniel reacted sarcastically indignant," I'm not _that_ hideous to look at, am I, Max?"

Paul gave Daniel a punch in the arm, "A-_ha_! I knew you had it in you! You _are_ looking for a commitment! And here I can't even get you to commit to office hours! You sneaky, marriage-minded dog, you!"

Daniel's face was expressionless as he tried to stop the blush from rising to his face.

"Could I _just_ continue explaining what I've learned from my coma?" he asked everyone.

_"What you learned from your coma_?" repeated Lewicki, "Now _that's_ a sentence people don't say everyday..."

Kate tried to keep a straight face,"Go on, Daniel," she encouraged.

"As I was saying before these _unnecessary_ interruptions," Daniel paused for effect, "is that I have a feeling my dream had some kind of symbolic value."

"Symbolic?" questioned Paul.

"That's where something may appear to be one thing but actually represents something else," Lewicki solemnly explained

Paul gave Lewicki an annoyed look.

"I KNOW what _symbolic_ means, Max!" Paul then turned back to Daniel, "but Daniel, maybe you're reading too much into this. It could be you were dreaming because you were just _dreaming_... sometimes two swimsuit models wrestling in jello is just that...two swimsuit models wrestling in jello."

Kate looked inquisitively at Paul, "You sometimes dream about swimsuit models wrestling in jello, Dean Haley?"

"Uh, no..." Paul said, almost choking, "That's more a typical dream that a lonely desperate guy might have, which is definitely not me."

"...but it's okay if it refers to _me_," Daniel interjected with a sardonic tone.

Paul realized his mistake, "You know what I mean!"

Daniel countered, "I can assure everyone here that no one was wearing a swimsuit in my dream!"

Lewicki leaned forward, hoping that Kate wouldn't hear and whispered, "You mean, they were _naked_, Doc?"

Kate visibly rolled her eyes, "Can we get away from the swimsuit models now?"

"_In my dream_," Daniel empahasized, "I was able to determine that the names on the board were more than just previous patients of two psychiatric hospitals. I was able to make one more connection that would tie the eight victims together."

"And what would that be?" Kate asked.

"Remember those lists of items I had written on the whiteboard with the question marks?" Daniel explained, " I was able to figure out that the killer had taken those items off the victims to keep as trophies. That is another tie to these deaths being the work of a serial killer."

"...or _two_ serial killers, "Kate stated as the two other men stared at her, "I have the names of the two possible suspects."

Paul Haley looked from Daniel to Kate, "So let me get this straight...the two of you, working separately, have determined a bunch of deaths could be homicides and also figured out the _name_s of the killers, despite one of you being in a coma the entire time?"

"Wow," stated Lewicki excitedly, "if word of this gets out that you can solve a crime while being in a coma, there's going to be a lot of homicide detectives looking for a new job!"

.

.

Later that night, long after Lewicki and Paul had left, Kate had chosen to stay behind. Under orders the nurse had given Daniel a sedative and it did not take long for him to fall into a deep slumber. Kate knew she should leave but instead her gaze took in every detail of his sleep-softened face, the way his hair tumbled onto his forehead, the relaxed lines of his mouth.

_What was it about Daniel that filled an emptiness in her life that her career couldn't?_ she wondered as she tenderly watched him.

She really needed to leave; it had been a long day. Reaching over, she gently pressed a hand to his forehead to brush his hair away when he began moving his head back and forth, although he continued to sleep. Withdrawing her hand, she watched him mumbling some gibberish.

His head continued to move back and forth but now the incoherent murmurings became a cohesive ramble.

"This is... Caroline Pierce..." Daniel murmured, "...m-my wife."

He then fell back into a deep slumber as Kate's eyes became round and she took two steps back.

.

.

_After all the drama of the previous chapters, I thought you might appreciate some lighthearted bantering, except for the ending, that is! :D_

Please review


	11. Chapter 11

The List

Chapter 11

The next day, Kate had called Daniel's main physician, Dr. Banks on the phone to check up on Daniel's condition.

"As best as we can tell, Daniel Pierce is doing very well," "Dr. Banks was very professional, "There appears to be no further swelling or subdural bleeding in his head. However, in the future, he may still suffer some headaches, dizziness, or disorientation."

"Don't worry, doctor," Kate assured him, "We'll make sure he won't be running any marathons when he gets home."

"Medical conditions are no laughing matter, Agent Moretti." His tone was no nonsense.

Kate cleared her throat," Of course, Doctor."

"If you like, I could give you a call when the patient is ready to be discharged," the doctor suggested.

He only heard silence on the other end as Kate was recalling how Daniel had called out Caroline's name.

"Agent Moretti?"

_He's waiting for a response, Kate thought to herself, as she took a deep breath._

"I...I..think Daniel has an assistant who can handle taking him home."

"Fine, I understand," the doctor responded, although he did not at all.

.

.

Two days later, Daniel was back in his own house.

And he couldn't wait to attack the whiteboard again, especially since he had the name of two suspects, thanks to Kate. At the thought of Kate, Daniel's heart sank slightly. She had not been there when he was released from the hospital. Later, when he had called her, she told him she was in a middle of huge FBI sting operation, although she did not go into detail.

He understood that she was busy, but, still...he missed her.

Turning back to the whiteboard, he willed himself to study the list of names he had on the board:

Suspect: Peter Grazin- Hospital: Hazelton

Nathan Clark

Wally Strum

Neal Armada

Isabella Murphy

Suspect: Dennis Houston- Hospital: Retsworth

Philip Ireland

Gregory Nettles

Kathy Watanabe

Dana Nottingham

.

As Daniel continued staring at the board, Lewicki had walked up behind him.

"Any progress, Doc?"

Daniel was in deep thinking mode.

"Eight patients from two psyche wards check out at different times and within a year they all die of what looked like accidental deaths, " Daniel half-stated to himself, "The suspects are two half-brothers who somehow found out I must have been involved in this case."

"Well, you had been snooping around Rexford, asking questions about Gregory Nettles," Lewicki said, "it wouldn't be hard for employee Dennis Houston to notice you lurking around the halls of the place. He probably felt you had suspected something about him."

"... so then Houston convinced his half brother Grazin to steal a car and try to run me over?" Daniel theorized.

"Possibly,," Lewicki agreed, "except they had been wrong and you knew nothing about either one of them."

Daniel nodded and added,"And all Grazin succeeded in doing was drawing attention to himself when nobody had even noticed him before."

He pondered his own statement when suddenly his eyes lit up and another intriguing speculation entered his mind. Lewicki noticed the change immediately.

"I know that look, Doc, "Lewicki noted, "What are you thinking?"

"Take a _good_ look on the board, Lewicki," Daniel said "What do you notice about the number of people on the list?"

"The number?" Lewicki shrugged as he glanced over at the whiteboard, "...that it's an equal number of victims from each hospital?"

"Precisely!" Daniel 's eyes lit up with excitement, "I think there is some significance to that..."

"I don't get it, Doc."

"If the brothers were in it just to kill, why not just randomly kill from both hospitals?" Daniel half mumbled to himself, "Why was it so important to keep an equal number of victims?"

"They're OCD about it?" Lewicki guessed.

"Maybe..." Daniel considered, "...and if so, maybe there's a pattern to these murders... that they weren't randomly selected..."

Lewicki looked back at the board, "Is this the chronological order in which they were killed?" he asked.

"No," Daniel said, "I just arbitrarily put the names up."

Lewicki nodded.

"I figured as much since Gregory Nettles is shown as the second person on the list, when in reality he had been the latest victim," Lewicki observed.

Daniel' turned slowly towards Lewicki, "That's it, Max! It's the order of the kill, isn't it?"

Lewicki shook his head in confusion as Daniel checked the scribblings on his post-it notes.

"Looks like Wally Strum was first killed by Grazin , and maybe they alternated and now it's Grazin's turn to kill again!" Then Daniel's expression dropped in disappointment as he glanced again at his notes, "No, that's not it!..Houston killed two during one period _before_ Grazin had his turn. So it's not alternate killings either. A pattern, but not _that_ pattern..."

Daniel seemed frozen in thought; he was utterly frustrated. He wanted so much to talk this over with Kate, but she made it clear that she was busy. All he knew was that he could not just sit and do nothing.

"Any suggestion what to do now, Doc?" Lewicki inquired.

"Until I find the pattern, maybe I can work on finding some solid proof to give to the FBI that these killings were homicides," Daniel stated.

_And then he could get Kate involved once again, Daniel determined._

"You need my help?" volunteered Lewicki.

"No...but thanks," Daniel said, "Actually, there is _one_ person who can help me with this."

"Kate?" Lewicki guessed.

"Not quite," answered Daniel, not wanting to get rejected from Kate again. He walked over to the phone, "I'm calling Caroline Newsome."

.

.

Although Kate tried not to, she felt she was checking her cellphone every ten minutes as she sat at her work desk. She had already told Daniel that she was busy on another case,hoping that would have been enough for him to not try and contact her.

So then why did she keep checking her phone?

Her phone vibrated and she quickly glanced at the screen, only to feel let down again. Just an ad from the phone service. She sighed. Every time her phone vibrated, it was like she felt another anticipatory pang in her heart.

She just wasn't ready to face Daniel in person now. She recalled how Daniel had called out Caroline's name along with the word _wife_ in his sleep. And aren't dreams a reflection of a person's true thoughts? If so, it hurt too much to think...of Caroline as his wife.

Kate didn't know why she had such a strong reaction to that statement. He had a right to his own choices in life. Daniel was just a friend whom sometimes she relied on to help solve cases. Nothing more.

Who was she kidding?

Checking her cellphone, she noted that it had been a half a day since he had attempted to call her. She should be relieved, but she missed him.

Those romance novels were right after all. Your heart _can_ yearn for someone.

They just didn't make it clear how much it hurts.

.

.

The logo for Peachtree Nursing Services was a tree with two heart-shaped peaches dangling from its branches. They were led into a room where they met Norma Sydney, manager of personnel services.

"Yes, and what can I do for you, Dr. Newsome?" Norma was asking.

"It seems as if our hospital is short staffed and we are in need of another nurse, so I thought I'd personally drop by to hire one of yours." Caroline told the office worker.

Daniel had coached her well.

"What a compliment!" Norma looked pleased, "However, Dr. Newsome, you or one of your staff could just as easily made a call. After all, that is our normal procedure."

Caroline tried her best to give a winning smile, "Yes, well...we have on previous occasions used the services of..." Caroline feigned checking her notepad, "...a nurse Dennis Houston...and we wanted you to personally ask for his services. My patient here," she gestured to Daniel, who quietly nodded, "has requested a competent male nurse to deal with his needs and I feel Nurse Houston would be the ideal candidate."

"Nurse Houston will be flattered that you requested him personally," Norma was saying, "but I'm afraid we can't fill that request. But I have other male nurses..."

"Why not?" interrupted Daniel, as he leaned forward. He realized he was being too eager but he was agitated, "some of the other patients told me how very patient he is, especially when one of them...you know...has an episode..."

"Well, yes, be that as it may," Norma spoke in a patient voice, "but I'm afraid Nurse Houston prefers to be a utility player. He'd rather be a substitute for when other nurses are sick, or go on vacation, or simply need an extra hand with a difficult situation."

"Oh dear, that will not do!" Caroline acted out, "Perhaps if you allow me to speak with him myself, I could convince him to stay on with an individual patient for an extended period of time. We could use a reliable, well-liked nurse such as himself."

"We certainly value your hospital services," Norma began, milling the idea over in her head.

"I think I could convince the doctors to pay extra for all the trouble you've gone to," Caroline suggested.

"Oh! Well..." Norma's smile was at last sincere, "I think I may be able to get in touch with Nurse Houston."

"Actually," Caroline now set the conditions, "I'd like to bring up Nurse Houston's work experience and performance at the next staff meeting. I'm sure they will be as impress with his record as I am with his. We are willing to provide you with additional financial compensation for your company. You don't mind if I review his file for history and references, do you?"

"No problem, Doctor!" Norma happily tapped some keys. Her printer started to print out some papers.

.

.

Caroline drove Daniel back home and they were now walking up to the front door of his residence.

"Houston had it all planned out," Caroline stated, "If he's a utility nurse who traveled from hospital to hospital, that would make it harder for authorities to connect him with individual patients."

Daniel put the key in the lock of the door.

"We've definitely moved forward on the case, thanks to you," Daniel said, "I really appreciated it...and that was great acting on your part, Caroline."

She smiled, "Thanks. I had a lot of fun this afternoon."

"Fun is not a word I normally would equate with catching a murderer," quipped Daniel with a straight face.

That made Caroline laugh just as Daniel opened the door.

"Who knows?" her smile broadened, "I may have a second career!"

"Just what the world needs," Daniel said, "An undercover doc-"

He never finished his sentence for when he and Caroline stepped into the living room, Lewicki was there, casually studying the whiteboard...

...and next to him was Kate Moretti.

At the sound of Daniel and Caroline's voices, Lewicki and Kate had turned around to view the new arrivals. Daniel noted the strange look on Kate's face at the appearance of Caroline Newsome and he wished he was anywhere but here.

.

.

_Please review_

_This chapter is dedicated to a special friend, Dani, who loves Perception as much as me!_

_And also to Tonie, Hannah, and Sara who, along with Dani, always brighten my day._

_Also, thanks to all reviewers for your kind words!_


	12. Chapter 12

The Puzzle

Chapter 12

Lewicki and Kate had been studying the board when Daniel and Caroline had walked in, seemingly delighted in one another's company, laughing and joking...until they spotted Max and Kate. Daniel looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he stared at a stunned Kate.

Caroline seemed oblivious to the awkwardness of the situation.

"Hello, Max," Caroline greeted,"And Agent Moretti, so nice to see you."

Kate tore her look away from Daniel to greet Caroline.

"Dr. Newsome," Kate recovered with a slight smile. She then turned to Daniel and taking a deep breath, heaved out his name, "Daniel."

Daniel, unlike everyone else in the room, never learned subtlety; he always spoke his mind.

"Kate, I thought you were busy... what are you doing here?" Daniel had forgotten about everyone else in the room as he stepped closer to Kate. The room was suffused with unresolved tension as Daniel and Kate silently assessed one another.

Luckily, Lewicki was a very observant person.

"...Aaaand," Lewicki inserted to break the silence, "I really need to go to the grocery store to pick up some milk," he looked at Caroline, "You wouldn't mind dropping me off, would you, Dr. Newsome?"

Caroline looked questionably at Max, "Who? Me?"

"Yes, Dr. Newsome, I need to run an errand..." Max gestured his head towards the outside, "and it would be great if you could help me by driving me to the grocery store..."

Caroline looked baffled at Lewicki's unusual request, "Uh, sure, I can do that," she agreed, howbeit hesitantly, "but do you mean, _now?_"

"Milk spoils quickly," Lewicki succinctly explained as he walked over to get his coat, "So we need to hurry."

"Alright...I guess..." said a still confused Caroline. She turned to Daniel, "I'll talk to you later then, I guess."

"Sure," Daniel mumbled, his eyes never leaving Kate's.

Lewicki and Caroline said their goodbyes and soon then were gone. After they had left, Daniel still could not look away from Kate. His hallucination of her could never compare with her actual presence. She looked fresh and beautiful as always.

"Kate," Daniel could not help the pleased tone in his voice, "I didn't know you were coming here. You seemed so busy every time I called you."

Kate had the good sense to blush.

"Yes, I'm sorry I never returned your call, Daniel...it just been so crazy at work," she lied.

Kate had always been bad at not telling the truth. Thank goodness she was on the right side of the law, for she could never lie herself out of a crime. She also sensed that Daniel knew she was lying as he watched her face carefully.

"Has it _really_ been that crazy at work, Kate?" Daniel needed to know.

Kate was aware at the pounding of her heart at the sheer closeness of him. Had it only been two days since she had last seen him? She took a deep breath in, and readied herself.

"You're right, I wasn't that busy at work -it had been a lie," she admitted, "...it's just...the last time I saw you, you had mumbled something in your sleep..."

Daniel's eyes changed to a look of concern, "What did I say?"

As Kate watched his anxious expression, she wondered why she had made the decision to stay away from him. His brown eyes were more intense in person than she had remembered, and his dark hair appeared casually tousled with only a hint of a wave showing on his thick locks. She had missed him.

"Daniel... it's embarrassing for me to say," Kate looked down and played with the button on her shirt.

The last thing Daniel wanted Kate to feel was uncomfortable. He needed to say something to ease her apprehension. In fact, he wanted to forget this conversation and just be happy that she was here now with him.

"Kate," Daniel suggested, "How about we say that when you saw me sleeping the other night, you had mistaken my _snoring_ for words and leave it at that?"

When Kate looked up, her face showed relief as a smile slowly formed.

"We can do that," Kate agreed and then jested, "but just keep one thing in mind: smile and the world smiles with you, _snore_ and you sleep alone."

"That explains so much about my life, " Daniel returned her smile and all seemed right between them. They could now focus their attention on the board in front of them. Daniel turned and when he noted Kate's writings on the whiteboard, his forehead furrowed slightly in bafflement.

"I see you've changed my board." He didn't say it in an accusing way, but as a statement of fact.

"Oh! I hope you don't mind, Daniel," Kate said, getting back to the investigation, "Everything seemed a little disorganized, so I thought it might be helpful to list the victims in chronological order, according to when they died. Wally Strum had been the first to die and Gregory Nettles had been the last."

The board now read:

Suspect: Peter Grazin Hospital: Hazelton

Wally Strum

Isabella Murphy

Neal Armada

Nathan Clark

Suspect: Dennis Houston Hospital: Retsworth

Kathy Watanabe

Philip Ireland

Dana Nottingham

Gregory Nettles

.

"I had hoped something would pop out," Kate explained about the new order, "I thought that I might be able to figure out a timetable for the killings, like maybe one occurs every five days or maybe after a full moon."

"And what did you discover?" Daniel asked as he continued staring at the names.

Kate let out a sigh of frustration.

"I discovered that there IS no pattern," she said, "The shortest period of killing was 48 hours and the longest was three weeks."

So both he and Kate were unable to unlock the pattern to these murders. Daniel knew the answer had to be right in front of them. He stepped back from the board to get a larger view.

It was there. Somewhere. Daniel felt it in his sixth sense. These two nurses were not geniuses. They had a system, only Daniel and Kate could not see it.

"I'm actually glad you've reorganized the names, Kate," Daniel said, "chronological order makes more sense. "

She nodded.

"The victims were of different races, different genders, different age groups and met with different deaths," Kate said, shaking her head, "I just wished I knew why those people were selected."

"Maybe it's in the name themselves," Daniel suggested.

Looking at the board, he silently mouthed the first name on Grazin's list: Wally Strum. He then glanced at the first name on Houston's list: Kathy Watanabe.

Then his eyes traveled down to the second name on Grazin's list: Isabella Murphy. Followed by the second name on Houston's list: Philip Ireland.

And then he did the same with the third names. And then the fourth names on the list. He repeated this pattern down the list. When he finished the entire list, his eyes would scanned the list of names again.

"Daniel?" Kate broke into his thoughts, "tell me what you are thinking."

Daniel squinted, as if that might make him see it more clearly.

"Grazin kills the first patient, then Houston chimes in with his first kill the next week, which then Grazin follows with another kill for him, five days later. But then the next week Grazin kills again, not Houston. What are we missing here?"

"_I don't know_," Kate sighed, "All we have is that by the end of the month, they ended up neck to neck with each other with the killings."

Daniel had been looking at the board, but now he turned to face her, "Wait...you said they were neck to neck with each other...right?"

"Yes, I did," Kate looked totally baffled as she looked at the board and then back at him, "But what of it? What are you getting at?"

He started pacing, which to Kate, was a good sign. He remembered when he was in a coma thinking that Houston and Grazin were trying to even up the numbers in the killings. And he was right about that, but in a different way.

Daniel snapped his fingers, "Something is becoming clearer now...these two brothers were not _helping_ each other with the killings at all...I got that part wrong!"

Kate was confused, "They weren't? Then what?"

"You were the one who pointed it out," Daniel stated, "You said they were neck to neck with one another and they were... _because_ ...it was a _game_!"

Kate crinkled her forehead in confusion, "A game?"

Daniel began pacing, "Yes, a game! A competition!" He stopped, "they were keeping score with_ corpses_!"

Kate stared back at the board.

"That's morbid..." Kate said, as she stared back at the board, "_but..._ it's entirely possible."

Daniel cracked a smile before getting serious again.

"So we know the reason for the two separate lists," Daniel felt he was on a roll.

Kate added, "..and like most competitions, I suppose the rule is that the person who attains the most points is the winner?"

Daniel's eyes seemed to be dancing in excitement.

"Kate! That's it! The _rules..._!" he was getting agitated with each second. Kate felt she could almost hear Daniel's mind clicking back and forth. Daniel stepped closer to the board now, only concentrating on the list of names, oblivious to other scribblings.

"The names! The names on the board...don't you get it?" he turned and looked at Kate, "Try to think of the names in terms of points in a game."

Kate was shaking her head back and forth, "O-_kay_...but I still don't see what you're getting at"

"It's all in the names themselves!" Daniel explained, "Wally Strum. Kathy Watanabe...Isabella Murphy, Philip Ireland...Neil Armada, Douglas Nottingham...Nathan Clark, Gregory Nettles..." Daniel alternately called out the names from each column, "It was right in front of us all along-I don't know how I could have missed it! The pattern, Kate..._the pattern is right there!_"

Kate whipped her head back and forth with each list on the board, trying to see what Daniel already knew...it was a game and the victim's name was the pattern...Wally Strum, Kathy Watanabe, Isabella Murphy, Philip Ireland, Neil Armada, Douglas Nottingham...

She whispered the names to herself, alternating them, just like what Daniel had done.

Then.

Hold on.

Light-bulb.

Kate looked at the names again: Wally Strum, Kathy Watanabe, Isabella Murphy, Philip Ireland...

A pattern began to emerge. And suddenly the names were no longer just names swimming in her head.

"I see it, Daniel! Winning the game was the goal!_,_" Kate exclaimed as she excitedly looked over at Daniel, "It was so obvious in its crude simplicity!"

Daniel looked pleased that Kate had also realized the pattern. She really was a brilliant agent.

"Do you know what this means?" he asked, "We have the answer to how they would pick their next victim."

Kate smiled, relieved that the case was about to be solved.

"The _how_ is obvious now," she acquiesced, "but even if we know _how_ they will pick their next victim, it's not a guarantee that we can get there in time before the killer strikes."

"But at least, now we have a chance," Daniel optimistically pointed out.

.

.

_Did YOU solve the pattern just like Daniel and Kate? If you did, please PM me, and if you hadn't figured it out, don't worry, it will be revealed in the next chapter!_

_(Oh, I started a Twitter account...come say 'hi' or let's discuss "Perception"! My account name is -at- DaisyBouquet88...drop by and I'll follow you, too!) :D_

_Please review_


	13. Chapter 13

Puzzle Solved...,mostly

Chapter 13

Kate had driven Daniel to FBI headquarters. Daniel knew it was necessary, but he still hated meeting her in the enclosed office area filled with random people, whirring fax machines and phones ringing off the hook.

She was now sitting at her desk with Daniel across from her, explaining the situation to her partner, Roger Probert, who was casually sitting on her desk. And Daniel could tell by the way that Probert was looking at him, that Probert thought he was even crazier than before.

"And you figured out half of this case when you were in a coma?" Probert asked. He paused and then added sarcastically, "I'm going to conk myself on the head later today."

Kate grinned.

"Actually solving the mystery in my dream is not as ridiculous as it sounds," Daniel explained, "I had all the information before I got hurt. All those facts were swirling about my subconscious. My dream was simply my subconscious trying to work out the case."

"Oh great," said Probert drolly, "I can see it all played out in the court. '_Tell me Agent Probert,_' the Prosecutor will say, '_how did you make the connection_ _between the murders and the alleged killer?_' And I'll have to respond with "_Our consultant solved it while in a coma-and luckily he woke up so he could inform us_. That'll go over really well with the DA.'"

"_Roger_!" Kate reprimanded him, her eyes telling Probert he needed to play nice.

"Nevertheless, since I've been awake," Daniel defended himself, "Kate and I have been able to assemble independent data which corroborated my assumptions."

"Even better," Probert practically rolled his eyes, "You were able to gather clues to fit your theories. The _defense_ lawyer will totally love you!"

"Just let me tell you everything that happened in my coma, and you can decide on the veracity of the facts," Daniel stated. He turned looking with uncertainty at Kate, knowing he was going to tell everything, even the part with Caroline as his wife.

"Oh! I'm all ears," Probert stated sarcastically, "I always love a good coma story! And pass the popcorn, please."

So Daniel told his tale. He told them everything , from waking up at the hospital to finding out that Caroline was his wife, to his investigative discoveries. At times he looked at Kate to gauge her reaction, and her expression was in listening mode and he could not read her.

Then Daniel concluded his story by telling them he figured items like a wedding ring, dentures, a pearl necklace and so forth on his list were probably trophies. That and the notes that there 2M meant two murderers meant there were two killers involved..

There was a pause in the room when Daniel had completed his story.

"They say dreaming is a wish fullfilment," Kate commented, "so is that how you interpreted your marriage to Caroline?"

Kate hated asking in front of Roger, but something inside of her kept pushing her to find out the answer. Daniel looked apologetic and that help eased Kate's apprehensions.

Probert interrupted, "And t_hat'_s the thing you got out of his explanation? That he had been pretend married?"

Color rushed to her face. She certainly didn't want Probert to think there were personal feelings behind her partnership to Daniel. Still, she really did want to know the reason of Daniel thinking about Caroline as his wife.

"I was in a coma state, Kate," Daniel reminded her, "not dreaming."

"But maybe a coma works the same way a dream does," Kate looked at Daniel.

To her relief, he shook his head.

"Actually, I've been giving this a lot of thought," Daniel said, looking directly at Kate, "and it's like I said before..the part about Caroline being my wife must somehow be symbolic."

"...the symbolic part being that Caroline was your wife?" Probert asked confused.

Daniel gave Probert an exasperated look, "I think that would be the _literal_ translation. No, I was thinking about a symbolic connection earlier when it finally dawned on me..."

"What did?" Kate asked.

"...I think," Daniel said, "it was her _name_ that clicked in my mind. Caroline _Newsome..._as in _knew some_...my brain was trying to tell me that I knew some information already. Like her presence, it was all right there in front of me all the time."

"What kind of crap is that?" Probert asked.

But it was Kate's reaction that Daniel wanted to see. And he was utterly surprised when he saw Kate's entire face light up with the fact that Daniel had a reason for thinking of Caroline Newsome. When Probert also looked her way, she instantly covered her smile and pretended to be looking at her nails before she glanced at Probert.

"Makes sense," she stated calmly, looking at neither man and continued looking at her nails.

"Okay, setting aside this pretend wife thing, " Probert waved his hand, "Kate, the last time I spoke with you, you had said there wasn't enough case to pursue. What changed?"

"We figured out the pattern of the killings," she said.

"Okay," responded Probert, "So let's hear it, then."

"It's pretty complicated, Roger," Kate told him, not sure how to explain it.

"Winning," Daniel interrupted.

Probert looked confused, "What? _Winning_?"

"Winning," Daniel repeated, as if that should explain everything.

Probert looked as confused as ever.

Kate sighed, "Let me explain it, Daniel."

She looked over at Probert, "W-i-n-n-i-n-g. That's exactly what suspects Grazin and Houston were trying to do. That's why there is this list. They are competing against one another and morbidly using the victims as a way of keeping score."

Probert was shaking his head back and forth in bafflement, "What?"

"What they were trying to do," Kate said, "was to see who can spell out WINNING first, using the names of their victims."

Probert looked totally perplexed as Kate handed him a sheet with the list of the victims. He looked questionably at it, "I still don't get it."

"It's quite easy, really," Daniel said as Probert looked at the list, "Look at the names themselves. The names on each list spell out the word "Winning"

Probert looked closely at the list and then looked back up at them, "What? How? I don't see it."

It was Kate who elaborated.

"Killer Houston is using the first letter of the _first_ names. while Killer Grazin is using the first letter of the _last_ names," she announced.

"Hold on, hold on," said Probert as he peered closely at the list, "Let's see...Houston's list is: Wally, Isabella, Neal and Nathan; that makes it W-I-N-N...and Grazin list is: Watanabe, Ireland, Nottingham and Nettles...I get it! W-I-N-N..."

Daniel grinned, "Ingenious, wouldn't you say?"

_Yes, Daniel, you are,_ Kate thought internally as she looked at him with admiration.

.

.

Kate got up at dawn, put on shorts, a tee shirt and running shoes and headed out onto the chilly, fogged shrouded beach for a jog.

She liked the serenity of jogging along Lake Michigan, where there was beautiful blue waters as far as the eye can see. It was her way to release stress. Although she jogged on the pathway, she was still able to feel the spray of water as it splashed on her skin and the salty air as it blew refreshingly on her face.

The quietness was only broken up by seagulls squawking as they soar overhead. It was freezing cold, and although Kate pushed herself harder hoping to work up a sweat, it still did not warm her up enough to keep her warm.

But the conditions allowed her to think more clearly.

And right now, she was thinking about the case. Everything seemed under control as far as she was concerned. Because they had no hard evidence to arrest the killer nurses, the only option they had was to try and save the next victim before the killer struck.

At least thanks to Daniel, they were now a half-step ahead of the murderers.

Their plan was to accurately predict who the next target would be. Then it would all come down to surveillance, timing and luck.

With Daniel's help, the FBI had sifted through patients who had left the two psychiatric hospital within the last year whose first or last names began with the letter 'I'. The killers had already spelled out W-I-N-N and was well on their way to WINNING.

There were three people that fit that profile-Ivan Dujoic, Ivette Jimenez, and Paula Ingels. As of this morning, three different sets of agents were staked out at these people's residences. All they could do now was wait.

It was about seven o'clock when Kate, drenched in sweat, returned to her apartment. She was tired yet invigorated. Any time now, she would be getting a call, telling her that they had apprehended the killer.

At the end of that thought, she heard the ringing of her cellphone on the counter. She dashed over and picked it up.

"Moretti here," she greeted.

"Kate," Roger Probert's shaky voice did not sound happy, "we were too late. By the time our team got over to Ivette Jimenez's house, she was already dead."

Kate closed her eyes in defeat. Looks like Killer Houston is now leading.

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.

_(Special shout-outs to Argallel and Zephyr02 for figuring out the puzzle!)_

_Please review_

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	14. Chapter 14

Too late for some, not for others

Chapter 14

Daniel was dreaming.

_He knew it, yet he couldn't wake himself up. He and Kate were laid out on top of a blanket on the beach. It was a perfect sunset. The sun had begun to descend into the curvature of the earth's horizon and the sky was gradually shifting from yellows to hues of orange._

_Kate was laying in his arms as they heard the roaring waves beyond them. Every movement of her body, every shift of her head seemed to titillate his senses. Her feminine body seemed to fit perfectly against his._

_The air was humid and scented with sea salt mistiness as they heard the rushing ocean waters in the distance._

_"Kate," Daniel said, as he took in nature's surroundings, "I wish we could always be like this."_

_"Daniel," she responded softly, "Wake up."_

He felt a nudge.

W-what?

He felt lights through his closed eyelids. Only it wasn't sunshine.

And there were no sounds of ocean waves.

It was a dream.

Wake up. He needed to wake up.

Opening his dream- filled eyes at last, it took Daniel a moment to focus on the unfamiliar ceiling. Turning his head to the side, it slowly dawned on him what had occurred last night and he realized that he had ended up on the sofa of...FBI headquarters

Memories came flooding back now. Last night he had been studying the files at Kate's desk and had been so tired that he decided to rest his eyes on the sofa in the break lounge. Instead, he must have fallen into a deep sleep.

But the deep slumber was over, and the nudge he felt was real, for crouched down next to him was Kate, looking intently in his eyes.

"Good morning, Daniel," Kate almost whispered, "I almost hated to wake you up, you looked so content in your sleep."

She had been watching him for ten minutes before she had awakened him. For that short time, her heart had drummed softly at the sight of the sleeping figure. A smile had touched her lips at the sight of his slumbering body alongside the file papers strewn all over the floor around him.

Daniel could not think of a better way to be woken up, but still he was embarrassed at her seeing him not at his best. He sat up and drowsily ran his hand through his mussed hair, trying to recover from the image of them together in his dream.

"It was nice to get a full night's sleep," Daniel hoped that sounded reasonable, "...I guess I slept here the whole night, hadn't I?" he asked.

Watching Daniel's soft-eyed look, Kate could never figure out why men always appeared so cozy and sexy in the morning when they woke up, whereas women seem to quickly deteriorate during the night.

"Don't worry," Kate said, "Probert had called Lewicki last night to let him know you were here all night."

Daniel felt like he looked in disarray in comparison to Kate's refreshed morning look.

"So how did it go?" he asked, regarding the surveillance, "did we catch the bad guys?"

By the look on her face, Daniel knew something had gone horribly wrong.

"Not quite, Daniel," she said quietly, "we didn't reach Ivette Jimenez in time."

"You mean," Daniel swallowed hard, "She's..."

"She was dead even before we had our team put together."

Daniel's body slumped in defeat, "Damn," he whispered under his breath, "What did her autopsy reveal?"

"Still too early to say," Kate said, "So it hasn't been ruled as a homicide yet."

"Of course it was a homicide!" Daniel exclaimed, suddenly wide awake, "You and I both know Ivette Jimenez was on that...that list! She was marked for death and we didn't save her!" His face seemed flushed now with anger. "What we really need to do is file arrest warrants for Houston and Grazin NOW!"

"Daniel, you have to calm down," Kate said, "We have to follow procedures if we don't want them to get away with these crimes. Let us cross all our t's and dot all our i's ."

Daniel unceremoniously got up and started pacing nervously. He needed space to think. After a while, he stopped.

"Did any of the agents see Houston or Grazin at the scene of the crime at all? Daniel asked., "were there any video cameras or witnesses?"

Kate sighed, "_Alleged _crime scene, Daniel. I conferred with the agents and the answer was no. Yvette Jiminez lived in an apartment building that had a closed-circuit security camera at the door so that residents can see who is ringing their buzzers. But the camera wasn't hooked to any recording device."

"Did we get anything inside her residence?" Daniel asked, "fingerprints, evidence, _anything_?"

"Until we have some proof that she didn't die of natural causes, I can't bring in CSU," Kate explained, although she knew Daniel was already aware of the procedures, "I doubt if we would find anything anyways. These killer nurses are slick."

"Damn," Daniel cussed again, "What about the other two other likely victims, Ivan Djuric and Paula Ingels."

"Don't worry, we have them under constant surveillance," Kate said, and then she looked at Daniel with a concerned look, "In the meantime, I'll have one of the agents drive you home. You probably still need to rest."

Daniel looked Kate directly in the eye, "Are you trying to shut me out of this investigation?"

Kate had a stunned expression, "What? No, of course not, Daniel. It's just...you've been through a traumatic crisis-you were, after all, in a coma a couple of days ago. You need to rest."

"I'll rest after they are caught," he said.

"No, you need to rest _now,_" Kate said, and then as an afterthought she added, "Daniel, if something ever happened to you...I would never forgive myself."

Daniel seemed touched by her last remark. He regarded her intently and Kate felt herself being held prisoner by the deep browns of his eyes. Her face flamed with a mixture of embarrassment and awareness of him.

"Okay...I'll go," he relented quietly as he realized his own desire was reflected in hers.

"Good..." Kate was finding it hard to recover, "I'll have an agent stationed in front of your house, too, for safety measures."

"Not necessary," Daniel stated, although he knew Kate would anyway, "If I were you, I'd used that extra agent to safeguard Ivan Djoric."

Kate questionably tilted her head, "Oh? But wouldn't Paula Ingels most likely be the next victim? After all, Ivette Jiminez's first name starts with an 'I' so shouldn't the next victim's last name begin with an 'I' as in Paula Ingels? Why did you pick Ivan Djuric over Paula Ingels?"

By now, an agent had arrived, ready to escort Daniel back home.

"Let's just say that if I were a betting man," Daniel said, as he began to leave with the agent, "I'd put my money down on Ivan Djuric."

.

.

Kate had stayed by the phones while coordinating the Killer Nurse Operation. So far no phones were ringing, which she didn't mind at all. After all, no news was good news.

Unfortunately , it also left her with time to think about Daniel. She couldn't wait to see im again. Life just seemed more vibrant with him morning he had looked so endearing in his sleep. What she wouldn't give to wake up to seeing him every morning.

_Stop that_, she thought.

Her phone rang.

With dread, Kate picked it up.

"Agent Moretti."

"Yes, Agent Moretti," a familiar voice responded.

Kate sighed with relief that this probably wasn't bad news about another murder. It was the medical examiner, "I've just finished the autopsy on Ivette Jimenez and thought I'd give you a heads up. Can you come down here?"

"I'm sorry, I'm in the middle of coordinating a case and can't make it down there," Kate apologized, "but can you just tell me the results on the phone?"

"Oh, sure," the coroner said, "After a thorough examination of Jimenez, I'm calling it a murder, although it's a close call."

Kate furrowed her forehead, "Why would it be a close call?"

"The paramedics had originally determined that she died of a cardiac arrest," the medical examiner explained, "which would make the death accidental. "

"But you called it a murder," Kate reinterated.

"Yes," agreed the coroner, "I found unusually high levels of epinephrine in her blood. Normally, that's not unusual. You see, in the final moments of death, a body will release large amounts of epinephrine from the adrenal glands in a last ditch effort to survive. So trying to prove epinephrine poisoning is very difficult to prove."

"Again...you called it _murde_r?" Kate reminded her.

" I was able to find a tiny puncture wound right on a beauty mole in the middle of her back. Unless she was a contortionist, she wouldn't have been able to inject it in that spot. If it wasn't for your stringent standards, I might have not taken the time for such a thorough search."

Kate smiled to herself at the backhanded compliment. So , she thought, not only were Houston and Grazin thrill killers, they were _careful_ thrill killers.

"So there you have it...a murder," the coroner stated, "This now makes it an official homicide investigation."

The news pleased Kate. She was so close.

"You've got any suspects for this murder?" the coroner questioned.

"Actually, I've got_ two_ suspects," Kate responded.

"And now you've got a corpse," the coroner reminded her.

"Actually, I have nine of them," Kate grimly said, "it's just that this one is still above ground."

.

Daniel got out of Agent Haskell's car and trudged up the walkway to his house. He was exhausted. So much had happened mentally and physically these past few days. Kate was right; he needed to rest and sleep sounded so inviting.

Now at the front door, he turned back and saw Agent Haskell sitting patiently in the car, reading a magazine.

But what Daniel missed was the dark shadow hidden in the bushes, watching his every move.

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_Please review_


	15. Chapter 15

It's all in the timing

Chapter 15

It was well past work time and Kate was nervously pacing the now emptied FBI office. She felt so useless, doing nothing. What was she doing here? Sure, she was elected to head the task force, but that didn't mean she still couldn't be out in the field...after all, the FBI has all kinds of communication gadgets. Agents could get in touch with her several ways.

She thought about what Daniel had said, that Ivan Djuric would likely be the next victim.

Grabbing her purse, she radioed Roger Probert that she was taking a shortcut to Djuric's house.

"That's perfect," Probert said over the speaker, with windblown swooshing sounds in the background, meaning he was driving, "I've had been trailing Grazin for a bit, " Probert explained, " and you'll never guess where he seems to be heading?"

"Don't tell me," Kate said, "Djuric's residence?"

"Precisely, so I think I'll cut a few corners and meet him there," Probert acknowledged, "with you, me and Grazin headed to the same location, it looks like there is going to be a party!"

"I just hope it isn't a deadly one," Kate commented before hanging up.

It wasn't long before Probert's car drove up to Kate vehicle down the next street from Djuric's place. Getting out of his car, he now joined Kate in her parked car. They made sure to keep their vehicle hidden from sight of the house.

"So Kate," Probert commented from the passenger side, "I had Grazin already covered-why didn't you try and locate Houston? Any reason why you've pick Djuric as the unlucky target in this _cat- mouse- and- another- cat_ game?"

"It was something Daniel said," Kate responded, "and since Grazin is here, we know Daniel was right after all."

Probert snorted, "So Professor Detective gets it right again."

The whole time they had been conversing, Kate kept watched on her rearview mirror. She didn't have to wait long before a familiar car turned the corner.

"Heads _down_," she announced, "we've got company!"

They ducked just as Peter Grazin's car whizzed by them and disappeared around the corner.

Previously they had inserted a hidden video recorder at the front door of Djuric's residence and the handheld TV that Probert had brought was already streaming live audio and visual feed.

They could see suspect Grazin now approaching the house, carrying a Starbucks bag with him as he knocked on the door. Kate got her earpiece in place just as Djuric opened the door. The tiny screen emitted a crisp and clear image and the voice clarity was perfect.

_"Ahhh, Nurse Grazin!" Djuric greeted. He was an older gentleman with a thick Russian accent, "but vat bring you to me?"_

Although they could only see the back of Houston's head, Kate could imagine that the pompous jerk had a fake smile plastered to his face.

"Let's go," Kate signalled to Probert as they both got out of the car and quietly closed the door.

They covertly made their way towards the house, crouching and using the rows of parked cars for concealment. Every now and then Kate would watch the screen of the handheld TV screen.

_"Your doctor called," she heard Grazin say to Djuric in her earpiece, "He says your records show you we need to draw some blood from you. Standard procedure for all outpatients. However, instead of you having to schlep your way back to the office, he sent me to administer the shot in the comfort of your home. It's the least we could do since it was our oversight._"

_Djuric opened the door wider to let Grazin in, "Ah yes! You have been good to me, old friend!"_

_The screen next showed Grazin holding up the Starbucks bag, "And surprise! I have something sweet to help make up for the sting!" his voice dripped with sincerity, making Kate roll her eyes._

She then watched as the victim Djuric stepped aside, allowing Grazin to step through.

Djuric never realized he was allowing the Nurse of Death inside.

.

Kate and Probert watched as the door closed. They had no idea what was happening inside, but they knew they had to act fast.

Probert, still in crouched position, went underneath the window. Taking a quick glance up, he saw Nurse Grazin take out a syringe and a tiny vial. He gave a quick glance at Kate and nodded.

It was time.

Kate drew out her gun and approached the door. Lifting one leg up, she used full force to kick it in.

BAM!

The door blasted open, splintering the wood of the door frame as she rushed inside.

When Kate bursts through the door, Grazin, with syringe in hand, reacted quickly. Instantaneously Grazin threw his left arm across Djuric's throat, his other hand gripping Djuric's right shoulder, pinning him in his seat and using him as a shield. Grazin's right hand held the syringe.

Kate stood with two feet firm in a firing stance, her gun aimed directly at Peter Grazin.

"FBI!" Kate identified herself, "Don't move, Grazin!"

And she felt rather than heard Probert enter behind her as back up, his gun also drawn.

Grazin wrapped his arm even tighter around Djuric, whose eyes bugged out in fear.

"He-elp mee!" Djuric choked out.

"You don't want to do any foolish, Grazin," warned Kate, her gun focused on the killer nurse.

"One move," Grazin threatened, "and I'll stab this needle right in him "

With a mighty show, he held the needle out, ready to puncture Djuric. Kate licked her lips, her eyes and aim concentrated on the target. No way was she going to allow Grazin his freedom.

"It doesn't matter if you do or don't," Kate tried to act casual, "You won't win, Grazin."

Grazin was getting more agitated, "Don't you idiots realize what I have in this syringe?" He held it so close to Djuric's skin, that it slightly pricked the surface.

"Epineprhrine," Kate answered evenly.

Grazin seemed surprised, but he quickly recovered.

"I'll only say it one more time; DROP YOUR WEAPONS," Grazin warned, "or I'll empty this entire syringe in the old man!"

Ivan Djuric, the victim, was trembling, "Ple-ease...pleee-ase..." he pleaded to anyone, "no. must. hu-urt me..."

Kate didn't change her position, "Don't worry.." she responded decisively, "the paramedics are on their way."

"Are you _stupid_? " Grazin was almost shouting, "If I inject this in him, he's_ dead_! The paramedics can't save him!"

Kate didn't blink.

"The paramedics isn't for him, Grazin..._" _she announced dramatically, ".._._it's for_ you!"_

She then fired her gun -_**BANG!**_- and the loud explosion filled the room. The bullet immediately slammed into Grazin's right shoulder, the force of the impact driving him back. That left him opened as Djuric fell forward. Probert took advantage of that as he fired right at Grazin's leg, knocking him to the ground.

When Kate and Probert rushed over to Grazin, he was making gasping sounds.

"God damn, this... huuurts!" he agonized as blood seeped from his leg.

"Unfortunately you'll live," said Kate, "and oh, by the way, you're under arrest for the murders of Wally Strum, Isabella Murphy, Neal Armada, and Nathan Clark."

She easily listed those names in succession, for those names haunted Kate at night. But not any longer. As she bent down to handcuff Grazin, Kate felt where the bullet had struck Grazin's upper shoulder. Strangely, her hand hit something hard on his chest. Feeling about, she realized that he had been wearing a bulletproof vest.

A bulletproof vest? Kate thought, strange how Grazin knew to wear one; it was as if he _knew_ he would get shot.

Wait...Grazin _knew?_

A myriad of thoughts entered Kate's mind.

Daniel had figured Grazin would come to Djuric, she thought. The killer brothers knew the FBI were on to them so they figured Kate would concentrate on the obvious victim, Paula Ingels. They had already had recently killed Ivette Jiminez, a name that began with an "I" so the next obvious victim would would have to have the last name beginning with "I", thus Paula Ingels would be the likely choice.

That would leave Ivan Djuric open and vulnerable.

So the brothers had broken the pattern again, but this time they had strategized what to do. The game was over between _them_, but now they teamed up to play the game against the FBI.

Meanwhile, Grazin let out another agonized moan of pain, bringing Kate back to the present.

After locking the handcuffs on the injured Grazin, Kate quickly called over to the agents watching Ingels. Agent Shaw reassured her that Ingels was safe and sound. Since the unofficial case was now officially labeled a homicide by the coroner, they could now place Paula Ingels into protective custody.

But , Kate thought, if Dennis Houston had not been stalking Ingels. _Where was he?_

As Kate pondered Houston's whereabouts, Probert was slowly helping Ivan Djuric up. In the distance they could hear the siren of an ambulance.

Maybe they got it wrong. Kate thought, maybe the killers had changed the pattern or there were other names on the list that the FBI and Daniel missed.

Kate's eyes widened.

_Daniel!_

Dread filled Kate as she realized that there was another possible victim Houston might be going after. Someone she cared about. Kate's hand was shaking as she grabbed her cellphone to call and warn Agent Haskell, the one assigned outside Daniel's residence to safeguard him.

Her heart skipped a beat when Haskell did not pick up, and that's when Kate knew.

_Daniel was in danger._

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_Hold on just a little while longer!_

_Please review_


	16. Chapter 16

Unexpected

Chapter 16

The physical toll that Daniel's body had taken the last few days finally caught up with him.

He awoke late afternoon from his bed. With the curtains drawn, the bedroom was enveloped in darkness. Still laying on his side, he lazily reached his arm out and surprisingly it did not hit the extra pillow he kept on the bed. He felt around and then opening one eye, noted that the pillow was no longer even on his bed. It must have fallen on the floor. Strange.

He opened the other eye. Now considered awake, he did not feel any more refreshed than when he had gone to bed.

It had been a dreamless sleep for him. His heart was racing as his eyes focused on the blackness of the room. He could hear the sounds from outside, a car rushing by, the settling of the house, the rustling of the leaves.

Then he remembered something.

Daniel turned his head and looked towards where his phone was located on the nightstand. Kate had not called. He looked at the lit numbers on the clock . It had been two hours since the last time he had heard any news from anyone.

_Why hadn't Kate called?_

He willed the phone to ring, but nothing. Opening his mouth, he was about to call Lewicki until he realized that he had sent Lewicki away, being that he would only be taking a nap and there would be an FBI agent watching the front of the house. He was alone in the house and Daniel suddenly felt isolated from the world.

Perhaps he should call Kate, ask for an update on the case. He needed to be thinking of something other than just letting his mind wander.

He quickly sat up, but it was too fast, and immediately dizziness overcame him. Choosing not to turn on the light, he reached over to find the phone, still fighting for his equilibrium. After much fumbling about, he at last found felt the receiver. Lifting it, he brought it to his ear.

No sound.

The line was dead.

Dropping the receiver, he sensed a ripple in the air that brought chills to his skin.

He now recalled the last time he had this sensation. He had woken up a week ago sensing danger, and sure enough, that was the morning he was hit by the red Mustang in the parking structure.

But it felt different this time.

It wasn't just that he sensed fear -this time it had a _presence_ in the room. He could almost smell the impending danger. Goosebumps ran up his back as the realization hit him. The killer was lurking somewhere in this room. Daniel's eyes could not seem to focus in the shadowy darkness of his room.

This was NOT as an hallucination, the killer was here; physically_ here_.

Daniel didn't move as he spoke aloud in the darkenss, "I know you're here, Houston. I'm going to turn on the lamp on my nightstand so that we can see one another."

As Daniel reached for the lamp, he heard a grunt followed by a gruff response in the darkened room, "You really are too smart for your own good, Pierce."

Just hearing the rough-sounding voice made Daniel shiver. Shakily he reached out and turned on the lamp.

A ray of light shot out, enough for Daniel to see that standing at the foot of his bed was Dennis Houston. The first thing Daniel thought of was the safety of the FBI agent who had been sent to watch him.

"Where's Agent Haskell?" Daniel demanded, wishing he wasn't feeling so lightheaded. He needed to remain sharp.

Houston's smile looked more like a sneer, "I thought of killing the agent, but lucky for him, his name didn't fit my little name game. So I just put his lights out, if you know what I mean."

Daniel gave a silent relieved sigh, grateful for the small things.

"Your name game is over, you know" Daniel claimed, trying to sound confident, "Even as we speak, I'm willing to bet that the FBI has Grazin in custody at Ivan Djuric's residence."

Houston guffawed, "Peter has always been dim-witted. Why he couldn't do the simple task of running you over with a two-ton vehicle, I don't know...but..." he brought forward the pillow he had taken earlier, "I guess it's up to me to finish what he couldn't. The initials of your name doesn't fit, but we can't have you snooping around any longer. You'll be the exclamation mark in my name game."

Daniel couldn't take his eyes off the pillow Houston held.

Aren't you worried if you use a pillow that I'll put up a fight?" Daniel tried to keep his opponent talking.

"I'm a nurse, remember?" Houston stated, "...and you've been in a coma. You're weak. I bet the room is spinning a bit even as we speak."

No truer words have ever been spoken, Daniel thought.

"If I say I am very weak and dizzy, will you leave me alone?" Daniel asked sardonically, "that maybe you should pick on someone your own size?"

Houston forced out an ominous chuckle.

""I'll leave you alone _afterwards_," said Houston as he began to move forward, punching the pillow with his hand, "You see, Pierce, you are about to have a little accident. Very tragic, really. Your pretty little FBI agent will find you at the bottom of the stairs. You've taken a nasty fall, you see, and your skull had been split wide opened..."

Daniel listened to the horrid description with little reaction although his heart was beating rapidly.

"That's quite... inventive," Daniel said, "but I figured you'd come by and want to do something like that...that's why I went to bed tonight with a gun."

Houston snorted.

But then Daniel pulled back the sheet to show he wasn't bluffing.

Houston stopped his movement when he saw the gun. It made him take a step backwards. But then, instead of backing away,a creepy smile appeared on his face.

"I've done my research on you, Pierce, " he said, as he began advancing once again, "and you are a college professor, not law enforcement. On top of that, with your mental problems, no way would you have learned how to fire a weapon. You won't shoot me with a gun."

Daniel's hand trembled as he brought the gun up and aimed it right at the advancing Houston.

With pillow in hand, Houston suddenly lunged.

_Pflooooot!_

Daniel fired directly in Houston's left cheek, the biggest target on his face.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The tiny pellet obviously did his work as Houston cried out in agony while clutching his cheek and staggering backwards.

"You're right, I wouldn't fire a _real_ gun," Daniel admitted, gesturing to the weapon he had earlier retrieved from Max's drawer "...this is a BB gun..."

At that same instance, there was yelling outside and the door of Daniel's bedroom suddenly burst opened as Kate and Probert rushed in, their guns drawn.

Daniel had not realized he had been holding his breath until now.

It took seconds for Kate to take in the situation of Daniel, the gun, and a bellowing-in-pain Houston, who was holding on to his cheek. Kate ran immediately over to Daniel as Probert tended to an injured Houston.

"Daniel! Are you alright?" Kate held on to both sides of him, concern staring directly in his eyes, concern written all over her face.

It somehow lifted Daniel's spirits as he showed the gun to her, "I'm fine...but my trigger finger hurts a little."

Kate could still felt the adrenaline coursing through her body, but she was able to squeeze out a smile, "Daniel, I don't know if I should berate you...or hug you."

And as she continued looking into his disheveled face, all she knew was that her heart would never recover had she found Daniel dead. Sitting on the edge of his bed now, she reached out and wrapped her arms lovingly around him.

For a second, Daniel sat frozen, not knowing how to take in Kate's grateful gesture. Then a pleasurable, yet peculiar tension, entered his body, his mind.

He felt comfort and warmth in her embrace as he slowly brought his arms up to return the gesture. Closing his eyes for a second, he would always remember how good it felt to be held by her, to be surrounded by the feminine scent of her. When he pulled back, his gaze was filled with affection.

"I'm fine, Kate," he assured her.

They stared at each other for an endless moment, lost in unspoken thoughts of how different the Houston scenario could have gone. Kate at last, dropped her hands to her side.

"I'm glad you're alright, " she looked at him tenderly before adding, " I don't know what I would do without you."

Daniel could pretend that Kate was only concern with his well being because she cared about everyone, but this time he knew... she was laying bare her inner thoughts to him.

"Hopefully you'll never have to find out." Daniel boldly responded.

Even though they had shown a connection before, it now seemed to be infused with something new; a promise of intimacy. Something they could explore later when they were no longer competent FBI agent and intellectual victim.

Then she looked again at the gun Daniel had dropped on top of his blankets, and her smile curved into the faintest of smiles , "Really, Daniel? A _BB_ gun?"

Daniel also grinned at his choice of weapon. He was going to give Lewicki an extra big raise for being a typical college young male in possession of a BB gun.

"You can criticize my weapon all you want." Daniel said as he at last gestured towards the scene of Probert handcuffing Houston and taking him away, "but it did its job against Houston."

They could still hear Houston yowling about his injury even as he was being led outside to the squad car.

Once they heard the door slam and the police car driving away, Kate turned back to Daniel, "Judging from Houston's reaction to the BB pellet being fired at him, I'd say he preferred a bullet coming from _real_ gun."

Daniel could only smile back.

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_Last chapter next!_

_Please review_


	17. Chapter 17

Searching for a word

_(A/N: This story is dedicated to some dear friends of mine that I have met at this site. Thank you for all the encouragement: Dani, Katherine, Sara and Tonie. I'm so glad you are part of my life!)_

Chapter 17

Daniel hadn't it meant to, but he suddenly yawned.

He was still sitting up in his bed after shooting Houston with a BB gun. The FBI had already led Houston away. The only agent who remained behind was Kate. She now sat at the edge of his bed. Her usual sparkling eyes now had a look of concern.

"Daniel, you must be tired and I've kept you up," she said.

"Kept me up?" Daniel repeated, "What am I, five years old? Its only eight!"

"Yes," agreed Kate, "But not many kindergarteners have been in a coma. You been through a lot these last few days."

Daniel could not have agreed more. Starting from the car trying to run him down, to having Caroline as a wife, waking up to discover he had been in a coma, to almost being suffocated, to solving a case. It was enough to last a lifetime.

Daniel yawned again, "You're right," he admitted, "I'm exhausted."

He scooted down in the mattress until he was once in a prone position. His eyelids felt heavy and he knew sleep would overcome him once again. Yet the thought of Kate not being there when he woke up depressed him. Through his shut eyes, he heard Kate's voice.

"I'll leave you to rest, Daniel," Kate reached over, turned off the light and started to leave.

"Kate," he called out into the darkness, "Don't go. Stay here with me."

He heard no response and at first, he thought she had already left, perhaps she floated away like an apparition. Then Daniel's body went still when he felt the mattress go down on one side as she entered the bed.

"I won't go, then" she decided quietly, much to Daniel's relief.

Daniel sucked in a deep breath and willed his stomach to stop the nervous flurries inside. The bedcovers lifted. He felt silently elated when he felt her body heat next to his. Instinctively his arm straightened out and Kate moved up against him and with extreme care, he wrapped his arm around her as she laid beside him. They could hear each other's raspy breathing.

Kate was suffused with warmth as they were cocooned beneath the layers of sheets. For awhile she was quiet, absorbing the sensation of being held by him. She was surrounded by the scents of soap and clean male skin, and the heat that warded off the night-chilled air. Her limbs felt warm and relaxed and she felt her spine conform to the shape of his body.

"I like holding you like this," Daniel's voice stated in the dark.

"-And I like being held," she almost whispered it.

Kate adjusted herself so that she was slightly closer to Daniel.

"Just don't wiggle too much," he warned her, "I don't like surprises."

He could have imagined it, but he could have sworn he heard a snicker from Kate. It was at this point that he wished his body hadn't exhausted itself, for now he wanted to stay awake forever. Or as long as Kate was here.

"I promise not to wiggle too much...if you promise not to roll over me in the middle of the night," Kate warned, "You won't like what I'll do to you if you do."

Her playful threat made Daniel smile. Especially since the implication was that she planned to stay the entire night.

"Hey, they don't call me _Steamroller Pierce_ for nothing," quipped Daniel.

Kate smiled into the darkness. Being here with Daniel made her realize how really lonely she had been. She thought her career was enough, that she didn't need anything more.

But as she cuddled in Daniel's enclosed arm a realization came over her that a career couldn't hug her in the solitude hours of the night.

Soon she felt his breath stir, and then the breathing became very slow. Daniel had fallen asleep. Despite it being early evening Kate felt her eyelid closing and soon she, too, fell into a wondrous, untroubled sleep.

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Daniel woke up sometime in the middle of the night. It was the first relaxing sleep he had in a long time. He felt different; it was a feeling of...warmth and comfort.

Then he remembered.

He turned and noted that Kate was still asleep in his arms. It was like an exquisite torture to have her asleep in his arms. He pressed his scratchy jaw into her silken hair.

As if his light touch had somehow been communicated to her, Kate turned over and was facing him as she sighed in her sleep. Soon her heard her rhythmic breathing slow down again. It was like music to his ears.

Daniel couldn't help himself. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. There was no reaction except the softness of her breathing. With a satisfied smile, he closed his eyes again, thinking if he never slept with Kate again, he will always recall this one night. Always. Then yawning silently, Daniel managed to once more fall asleep, knowing his reality was much better than any dream he could imagine.

When he woke in the morning and he found her gone,but he wasn't disheartened. The comforting sheets still held the warmth and scent of her body and he wanted to stay in bed forever.

Only he couldn't. He was anxious to get back to the university, to be surrounded by something that was familiar to him, to be within the realm of his reality.

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It was a beautiful Chicago day and Daniel was outside his office building. He sat under the same tree he always did when he was working on his crossword puzzle. This time he would finished that puzzle he had started days ago.

In a world of hard concrete, it was always nice to be surrounded by sunshine, quietude, and greenery. Occasionally students would stroll by, but it only added to the relaxing academic ambiance. Taking a deep breath in, he felt he appreciated the usual surroundings even more than usual.

Drawing his attention away from the outside world, Daniel now focused on the crossword puzzle he held in his hand. Right now he was trying to figure out a five-letter word for _happiness._

Though try as he might, he was so tempted to write in the name "Kate M". He could not get out of his mind the feeling of contentment he felt holding Kate as he slept last night.

A familiar voice pushed him out of his revelry.

"What could you possibly be thinking of to bring such a smile to your face, Daniel?"

It was Kate standing in front of him, watching him. A sweet ache formed inside of him at her presence. His heart was pounding so fast he could feel it down to his toes.

Kate's heart lurched at the sight of Daniel working on his puzzle in solitude. She could feel her cheeks warming as she tried to still the inner flutterings.

_I was thinking about our first night together, Daniel silently thought._

"_Kate_," he spoke her name with reverence, as he gestured, "Please, sit."

Kate gladly complied, "Daniel, I'm so glad I caught you here."

Daniel looked slightly alarmed, hoping it was nothing serious,"Why? What happened?" he asked.

_Something wonderful between us last night_, Kate half-smiled; but that could wait for another time. Right now, she would talk about the case.

"Just wanted to update you on the killer Nurse case," Kate informed him, "Turns out, when we separated the two brothers, they could not stop confessing that the other party was the more guilty of the two. Each wanted to testify against the other in exchange for a lesser charge."

"I'm glad," Daniel said, as he continued to gaze at her. He would never take someone like Kate for granted, he would always appreciate her soft vulnerability underneath a layer of strength and determination, "So what happens now?"

"What if... I invite you over to my place as a way of celebrating?" Kate asked, with a slight hesitancy in her voice, "I'll even baked a chocolate cake, if you like, in honor of it."

All kinds of emotions swept through Daniel, all of them delighted ones.

"Let me get this straight," Daniel's tone sounded light, "_You,_ Kate Moretti, agent _extraordinaire_ of the FBI, will bake a chocolate cake- all by yourself...or is this with the aid of, oh, I don't know...a bakery?"

"Yes, Daniel, I can bake!" Kate pretended to look indignant, "although I should warn you that my oven has just two settings...too soon or too late."

She caught Daniel's smile, and it made her break into one. too.

"Tempting...and yet at the same time, _not_," he teased, "but wouldn't you know it? I don't eat sweets..."

"My creation of _Chocolate Decadence a la Moretti_ is not merely a 'sweet', Daniel," claimed Kate, "it's an entire vacation!"

"Sounds irresistible," Daniel broadened his smile, "And what exactly are we celebrating?"

"Your return to reality, of course," Kate said,.

Her statement seemed to bring back the seriousness of the kind of person he really was, which was a flawed one. He looked askance at her, "Hmmm...are you sure you _really_ want to be a part of my kind of reality, Kate?"

Kate knew exactly what Daniel was implying.

"Yes, whatever that may be," Kate reacted, without skipping a beat. When she saw that Daniel still wasn't convinced, she added, "Daniel, you make it seem as if you're the only one with faults. Look at me, I'm opinionated, stubborn, and sometimes hard to handle..."

"_Sometimes_?" Daniel jested while Kate pretended to be offended.

"Joke all you want, "Kate told him, "the point is... I'm not perfect either. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you don't deserve me at my best."

"Then I'll take you at your worst," Daniel stated quietly, "for better or worse."

His unexpected statement made Kate catch her breath.

Meanwhile, Daniel's assessing gaze moved over her face. His hand then came up and slid around the slim curve of her throat, his thumb caressing the line of her jaw. He liked how her skin felt soft and feminine.

Kate moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. She was aware of a disquieting pleasure that uncurled low in her stomach when Daniel touched her. Her eyes traveled down to his broad chest, remembering the solid feel of his body against hers and her breathing became choppy.

Then she peered back at his handsome face, the air vibrating with sensual tension as he gazed back at her. Daniel moved towards her. He was so close to her now and her senses swam with pleasure.

When at last he leaned in and caught her mouth with his, he kissed her with undiluted passion. Warm pleasures flared inside of Daniel. He had waited for what seemed like a lifetime to be with her this way and she was as sweet and tantalizing as he imagined. Kate could not help but respond to Daniel's compelling kiss.

When the embrace ended, it took all of Kate's strength to keep breathing as she tried to halt the frantic beating of her heart. She took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

"Daniel, maybe we should go," suggested Kate, "that cake isn't going to bake itself, you know."

"I'm not ready," Daniel commented.

Kate lifted an eyebrow, "Oh?" Disappointment began to rise in her, as her cheeks began to color.

Daniel needed to do something first. Kate watched as he picked up his crossword puzzle. Then under the clue for _happiness_, he wrote the five letter word, "_bliss"_.

"There!" he announced, completing his task, "_Now_ I'm ready!"

Kate smiled with relief. They stood and when he held out his hand, she firmly grasped it. They walked together blissfully down the university pathway.

(Daniel final voiceover): _What is bliss? We don't instantly recognize it, because it is so rare and fleeting. Maybe it's consuming a delectable sweet, sharing a funny joke or falling asleep in the warmth of a special someone's arms. If a sensation takes your breath away. makes your heart beat with excitement, AND gives you a sense of contentment, then you, my friend, are one of the lucky ones who have experienced true __bliss..._

_._

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_(Cue ending music)_

_*Scene of Daniel and Kate strolling hand in hand through the lush greenery of the college campus*_

_(music abruptly stops)_

_*****Black screen******_

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_The End_

_Thanks for reading all the way through! Yay!_

___I'd like to also thank all the frequent reviewers, those who favored my story and those who had me on alert. All of you were the ones who have inspired me to complete this story._

___I will be back!_

_May your life also be filled with many chapters of blissfulness!_

_._

_._

_Please review_


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